'Food & Wine' Dubs Spiced Saltines The South's Most Beloved Appetizer And Twitter Goes Wild
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On August 30, Food & Wine magazine tweeted a link to an article, originally published by Southern Living, headlined "The South's Most Beloved Appetizer Starts With a Sleeve of Saltines." The subject of the story was "fire crackers" (sometimes called "Alabama fire crackers") — saltines coated with onion powder, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and dry ranch dressing mix, then briefly baked.
The results are crisp, slightly spicy little mouthfuls that fall firmly into the "bet you can't eat just one" category.
"Most beloved," though? The Twittersphere wasn't buying it.
— Roy Wood Jr- Ex Jedi (@roywoodjr) August 31, 2017
More than 150 responses, not all of them polite, took issue with that characterization of the saltines.
I'm a southerner. Never heard of this. Saltines go in soup or chili, or in emergencies with pepperoni and cheese if you don't have ritz.
— BravesFanAmy (@amytapscott) August 30, 2017
Others dismissed fire crackers as a regional peculiarity.
please direct me to the "southerner" who told you this was our most "beloved"
— jasmine (@snakemoons) August 30, 2017
Some tweets proposed that pimento cheese, cheese straws, boiled peanuts, or even oysters would have been better choices for the honor, while others outright claimed to have never even heard of the thing.
I'm from the south and I never heard of this it's not anybody's beloved anything.
— Lisa (@liquelg) August 30, 2017
South...as in South Korea? South America? Southeast Asia? South Dakota? Wtf I've never seen or heard of that in SC, NC, FL, GA, VA or WV.
— Adam Denison (@xxAWDxx) August 31, 2017
The author of the article, well-known recipe developer and food writer Sheri Castle, seemed bemused by all the to-do. "That was originally a blog post published around the 4th of July," she told The Daily Meal, "and that headline was added after-market. One should never claim that anything is 'most beloved' or 'most popular' — and I never used the word appetizer. It's just a snack. But of course people tend to view their most beloved cuisine from their own vantage point, and if they've never heard of this, it doesn't exist for them."
She added, "It's just a cracker. A surprisingly delicious little thing. If you've never had them, they're easy, they're quick, they're tasty. Give them a go."
We won't say "beloved" here, but these 24 Southern dishes are pretty much essential.