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I' d like to say thank you to those of you who stop me on the street and say
how much they enjoy our weekly endeavors for the Tallapoosa Journal. Thank you
to Mae Thorton who lives on Monroe Street for the recent kind letters. I
appreciate hearing from you all anytime.
I grew up in a frugal household. My grandmother had a way of being able to
stretch a dollar unlike anyone I ever knew. She had the ability to feed the
whole family, keep the utilities on and a roof over our heads. If you left a
room with the light on, she'd inquire "when did you become president of Georgia
Power Company"? She didn't believe in "wasting electricity". I never saw a 100
bulb until I graduated college. She was one of the greatest cooks in Tallapoosa.
She had a way of frying chicken that if I could duplicate it would challenge
KFC, Popeye's, Church's, and Bojangles. We didn't have fried chicken at our
house too often unless the preacher was coming by or company was coming. My
beloved Mamanier somehow could take pinto beans, turnip greens, and corn bread
and make a banquet out of it. The Liberty National Life Insurance debit
insurance man would time his policy collection for around my grandmother's
supper time. He loved her cooking. What ever happened to those debit insurance
men? I never had a biscuit that came from a can until I graduated college. My
grandmother hand made bits of heavenly manna hot from the oven with a dab of
real butter bought from a local farmer and I remember it was round and wrapped
in wax paper. Her gravy had the consistency of dry wall spackling but it sure
was good on those hot biscuits. She also introduced me to Spam, the Hormel
mystery meat that because popular during World War II. She fried it and that was
breakfast fare from time to time to accompany her scrambled eggs and hot from
the oven biscuits. I read where because of the recession, Spam is seeing an
uptick in sales. I read last week that sales of canned foods, especially canned
meat, have been rising as people limit their spending on food. Hormel says that
on the Spam website they have 350 recipes for the mystery meat. A recipe for a
Cheesy Country Spam Puff, Spamaroni, and even Spam Lettuce Wraps are just a few
of the more interesting ways to prepare it. I went to Hawaii back in the last
century and they serve Spa m at McDonald's for breakfast. I really try to watch
how much salt I eat and the last time I had Spam, I tried to drink Walker's
Creek. I saw on the canned meat aisle at Holcombe's that you can get Spam Lite.
Spam Lite? What is it less filling, or tastes great? I also recall my
grandmother's chili was to die for. In the 1930s she ran a cafe on Head Avenue
called "Jack's Place" named for my uncle Jack Meunier. Her chili spreads served
there were quite popular. I have been told that the late Hat Roberts made the
best chili our town ever tasted. I also remember the old hotel on Alewine Street
had a great chili and I was sent more than once up to fetch a Ball quart fruit
jar of Sis' chili. I saw a story on CBS Sunday Morning program about Tim
Horton's Donut shops that dot the landscape of Canada. I began to think of
donuts and how much my mother loved those from the Krispy Kreme on Ponce De Leon
Avenue in Atlanta. How many of you remember the donuts that Sid Williams had at
his bakery in Tallapoosa? His yeast bread was pretty good but I have never had
any bread as good at Teresa Jackson makes. I have told Teresa and Jack that they
need to open a bakery in our town. I'll be willing to bet they would have a
steady stream of customers. Speaking of culinary memories, how many of you can
say you had a Tasty Treat hamburger prepared by Norman Owens? Were you ever so
blessed as to have had a meat and three vegetable plate from Ona Belle's Tri Mi
Grill or the Southern Cafe at the corner of Highway 78 and Stokes Street? The
Crossroads was always a popular place for hungry Tallapoosans. I also recall the
Tallapoosa Masonic Lodge fish fry that was held on a warm Saturday annually. I
am a Mason and have never met anyone in a Masonic Blue Lodge that could not
cook. Another memory of good eats came from Junior and Frances Windom's
Smokehouse Cafe. You could smell the hickory wood cooking pork barbecue from
their location on the west end of town all the way to the Standpipe. Can you
think of something I may have missed about eating establishments of years gone
by in our town? Let me know. I wish my grandmother could have lived long enough
to see Tallapoosa with places that has good Mediterranean fare like Papous
Pizza. She also might have liked Sy's stir fry at her establishment that
features Thai and Chinese dishes. She probably would love the fact that in the
city limits of Tallapoosa there is a Waffle House. She might have been
disappointed you can get hashbrowns scattered, covered, and smothered but you
can't get fried Spam.
Rhubarb Jones is a Tallapoosa native and a member of the administrative faculty
at Kennesaw State University. He can be reached at P. O. Box 1001, Tallapoosa,
GA, 30176 or via email at
Rhubarbjones@aol.com
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