If you’re from the South, then you know, whether you are a fan or not, that college football starts in earnest this weekend. And if you’re from Alabama, either you or someone you love has not slept in days in sweet anticipation.
If you’re from Texas or have loved ones in Texas your mind is probably on much more important matters than college football. Texas has quite a mighty football tradition, and our thoughts remain with all the players and fans affected by Harvey in the state of Texas and we pray for the safety of them all. Once football gets going, I imagine and hope it might provide a little bit of needed diversion from the long journey of recovery ahead.
Every fall Saturday when I was growing up was “game day,” and my father would be glued to the tube to watch all the SEC games. When the Iron Bowl game between Auburn and Alabama rolled around, millions of folks gathered in party mode, and they still do.
On game day in the South, if you’re not in the stands or tailgating in the parking lot of the stadium, you are among the hordes of fans cheering on their team around TVs in living rooms and dens and sometimes around TVs rigged up in garages, porches, backyards, docks, and boats.
If you happen to be walking down an Alabama street on a big game day (the streets will be empty like a ghost town), every few minutes you’ll hear out of nowhere a collective hooting and hollering from the fans who are crowded around the TVs, sweating and breathing as hard as the players themselves. If you see somebody, it must be halftime, when some fans feel the need for a smoke or breath of fresh air.
If you’re not a fan, my advice is not to tell anybody. Just dig into some delicious game-day food and (privately) not care who wins or loses. Whether you’re tailgating in person or in spirit, coming up with game-day food is a fun activity to distract you until the games actually get started.
Some of my favorite tailgating foods include pimento cheese, ribs, wings, and brownies or other little pick-up sweets. In Gumbo Love I even have dueling War Eagle and Roll Tide cocktail recipes! I’ll never tell which is my favorite.
What’s YOUR favorite tailgating food?
P.S. War Eagle 🙂
