Food Fights

MIDWEST
POTLUCK FAVORITES FACE-OFF
THE BEIGE BARBARIAN VS. THE GELATIN GIANT

WHY THE FACE-OFF?
No one saved enough room for both.

CONTENDER: HOTDISH
Wondering what to bring to that family reunion? That neighborhood potluck? That church supper? Don't worry, the Midwest has you covered: Bring hotdish, the Beige Barbarian. It's an old school mix of meat, canned cream soup, and vegetables. Beyond that basic structure, anything goes. You want ketchup in your hotdish? Fine. Hamburger? Okay. Sour cream? Sure, that'll work. Fried onions? Tater tots? There are literally hundreds of recipes for tater tot hotdish. 

Hotdish has been a staple of Midwest cuisine since World War I, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration started a "Food Will Win the War" campaign. Patriotic posters encouraged Americans to waste less food so that more could be shipped abroad to soldiers. Convenient, economical meals like hotdish quickly became Midwest classics. 

Flip through old Lutheran church cookbooks and you'll find recipes on recipes for hotdish. While hotdish may have reached its peak in the 1980s, it still brings Midwesterners a warm, cheesy, nostalgic comfort, even on the coldest days of winter. Just don't be the guy who takes the last bite. 

CONTENDER: JELL-O SALAD
The history of Jell-O salad mirrors the history of American industry and the rise of home economics. During the same wartime food rationing that brought hotdish into play, Jell-O salad offered a chance to turn leftover odds and ends into beautiful, glistening gelatin creations. How do you make a Jell-O salad? Just take ingredients and suspend them in gelatin. It can be sweet or savory. That's it! Easy, frugal, and jiggly.

In the 1950s and 60s, advertisers marketed Jell-O salad to housewives looking for fast, no-mess dinner options. Cookbooks featured recipes for savory Jell-O salads with ingredients like tuna, avocado, veal, celery, and tomatoes. By the 1980s, though, Jell-O had lost most of its cultural stronghold. The one region where Jell-O salad is still cool? The Midwest. Midwesterners, especially Mormon Midwesterners, still consume plain, sweet, and savory Jell-O salads. "This certainly is not the classiest of desserts," writes Annelise McAuliffe, but "it is always a hit with the children at a gathering."

WINNER: HOTDISH
These culinary catch-alls found fame in the mid-twentieth century, as the food industry boomed and processed ingredients became staples of the American diet. They served similar purposes: bring together disparate ingredients and find a way to hold them together, either with canned soup or with gelatin. So harmonious! So Midwest Nice! But those were the midcentury heydays. Hot days. Salad days. Today, both contenders exist more as jokey cultural icons than real foodie favorites. And one stands the test of time better than the other: Hotdish. It's just more appetizing that Jell-O with tuna. 

SOUTH
THE GREEN LEAF BEEF
COLLARDS VS. KALE

CONTENDER: COLLARDS
After the Civil War, collard greens and black eyed peas became staples of the average poor Southerner's diet. In the generations since, home-cooked collards, often favored with pork fat, became traditional Southern fare. While all Southerners are familiar with the greens, collards are most strongly associated with black Southern soul food. 

Collards came into the national spotlight after a Twitter debacle nicknamed #peanutgate. When the grocery store chain Whole Foods tweeted a recipe for collards and peanuts, Twitter users snapped back. "Can you imagine eating collard greens with garlic, cranberries, and peanuts?" Erika Hardison write in The Huffington Post. "Kale yes, but collard greens? Hell no." Critics argued that Whole Foods had gotten collard greens wrong, ignoring its cultural history. The Root's Diana Eromsele wondered if collards would be the next food to be "gentrified and Columbused by the mainstream."

Of course, there are enough collards to go around, and Southerners have plenty of experience when it comes to food and hospitality. If #peanutgate taught us anything, it's that it's okay to add new flavor to old recipes, as long as you remember your audience, know the context, and give credit where it's due. 

CONTENDER: KALE
In case you haven't heard, kale has been trendy for a while now. There's a Fifty Shades of Kale book, a National Kale Day (Oct. 5), and an American Kale Association. But kale's reign at the top of the leafy greens pyramid has some people feeling impatient for the Next Big Thing in produce, prompting the website Eater to ask, "What is the new kale?" Kale is being pitted against collards and other cruciferous vegetables on the misty battleground of the produce section. 

But kale shows no signs of easing its grip on the food industry. In July 2016, a New York food festival hosted a kale-eating contest. The host of the Kale Yeah! eat-off called it "the healthiest eating contest in the world."

WINNER: COLLARDS
Kale is trendy! Collards are traditional! Kale is sexy! Collards remind you of your grandma a little bit. Kale is famous! Beyoncé wore a kale sweatshirt! Collards don't get much press. Kale is a superfood! Hey, collards are packed with antioxidants too. 

There's one winner here, and it's not the one you keep hearing about. Kale may be popular, but collards have stood the test of time. These hearty greens take a while to cook, but they won't go mushy on you. And sure, go ahead, try them with peanuts.