As a born-and-bred Southerner from the Mississippi Delta, where I spent childhood surrounded by cornfields, flooded rice paddies, and canopied pecan orchards, food was always central to the concepts of community, connection, and abundance. When shelling huge sacks of black-eyed peas or shucking corn on the front porch, it's a given that the bounty will nestle beside something fried by suppertime - preferably piled-high platters of crispy fried chicken. It's the unofficial multi-state symbol of Deep South cuisine, at least in my book.