Let’s be honest - not all Southern traditions are good traditions. Fried foods are a common Southern tradition - we fry chicken, frog legs, pickles, okra, french fries, shrimp, and oysters - and that is just a short list of the fried cuisine we love in the South. But as good as fried food may taste - it is not a healthy choice.
Fried foods are generally higher in fat, calories, and often salt. Frying foods in oil causes the foods to lose water and gain fat. A baked potato (100 grams) has 93 calories and 0 grams of fat. An equal amount of french fries has 319 calories and 17 grams of fat.
As Easter approaches, Steve Owens went on YouTube to demonstrate how to fry the Easter classic - Cadbury Creme Easter Eggs. The video of deep fried Cadbury Creme Easter Eggs has gone viral. Let’s hope more people are just curious and not actually planning to fry the Easter tradition.
The ingredients are shared in the video: all-purpose flour, whole milk, baking soda, nutmeg, oil, and actual egg, and the Cadbury Creme Egg. The Cadbury egg is first frozen and then coated with the batter and deep fried. Why? The Cadbury Creme Easter Eggs are great in their natural state.
While an overabundance of fried foods are associated with the South - fried food items are a global phenomenon. Every year there are new fried items that show up at state fairs across the country. Here is a list of a few bizarre fried foods and the state fairs that featured them:
* Deep Fried Butter (Texas State Fair)
* Deep Fried Salsa (Texas State Fair)
* Deep Fried Ice Cream Cheeseburger (Florida State Fair)
* Deep Fried Kool Aid (California State Fair)
* Deep Fried Jelly Beans (Massachusetts State Fair)
* Deep Fried Bubblegum (Texas State Fair)
* Deep Fried Beer (Texas State Fair)
Additional strange fried foods include:
* Deep Fried Guacamole
* Deep Fried Candy Bars
* Deep Fried Bacon
* Deep Fried Pizza
Considering the contribution fried foods make to health issues - like Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and high blood pressure - we should not be looking for foods to fry.
Have you noticed how many items on the appetizer menu in most restaurants are fried? Why can’t they offer more grilled items as appetizers?
America seems obsessed with frying stuff. Bacon is already fried - why deep fry it?
How appetizing does deep fried bubblegum sound to you? At what point would you finish all the crumbles from the fried batter so you could just enjoy the bubblegum? And deep fried Kool-Aid? Why?
I admit I am sensitive to this subject because I don’t eat fried foods. I will taste a few french fries or a few bites of something fried, but I don’t eat fried foods and it’s time to stand up and denounce the temptation to fry everything - and anything.
We need to be promoting healthy ways to consume our favorite foods - and frying everything is clearly not the answer!
