#texas stuff

Nonnie, my darlin’, I think your headcanons are safe. I am very much diggin’ your enthusiasm... But as a Southerner (not a Texan), I gotta set some stuff straight for the fandom. I’m really, really sorry I’m gunna use your ask as my little soap box about this, but this has been bugging me ever since Keith’s dad showed up with a slightly country-sounding accent. 

I feel like sooooo many of y’all are equating “Texan” to “Southern” - and as a Southerner (I’m originally from Tennessee, I’ve lived in Georgia, and currently I live in Charleston, SC, which is one of the most traditionally Southern cities you can find on the map), I’m here to tell ya they are not the same thing. And I think Texans would definitely agree [ @freshfriedtrash as a Texan, would you agree with that sentiment?] 

When you say “big southern meals”, you’re actually probably thinking of southern food and not Texan food. Peach pie on the porch? Mmmmmmno, that’s a better fit for Georgia tbh. Texas is Southwest, it’s not a big exporter of peaches, it’s also right on the Mexican border and there’s a lot of culinary influence from that there. Tex-Mex is big. Traditional chili recipes abound. Beef in all its big, tasty glory is a staple (Texas is one of the main sources of cattle in the US). I mean, those are somewhat stereotypical foods, sure, but at least they kind of coincide with the food that actually crops up in Texas. 

Those big, traditional southern meals you’re thinking of? They probably line up more with the South’s food and not Texas’s food. In the South, the “traditional” food you’re more likely to find are things like fried chicken, collard greens (or greens of any kind), grits, chicken and waffles, fried catfish, stewed beans greens and ham, fried okra and tomatoes, potatoes in all their forms. Some of the traditional Southern cuisine (a lot of which originated from traditional African American cuisine way back when) does overlap with Texas cuisine but they’re still pretty distinct culinary entities. 

Oh and lord help you if you say that Memphis BBQ is the same thing as Texas BBQ - or that Carolina BBQ is the same as Memphis or Texas BBQ.

Texas is its own culture that is distinct from the culture of the South - albeit with some admitted overlap. Hell, even that stereotypical “Texan” accent that you hear all the time in like movies and TV shows?? That’s actually more of a Tennessee/Georgia/South Carolina accent than it is Texan. Yeah sure, both Texans and Southerners will say “ain’t” and “y’all”, but not many Texans actually have very pronounced Southern accents unless you really get out into the rural areas. Which, I mean, it’s sort of the same case for the south - the more rural you go, the more pronounced the accents will be. But you’re more likely to hear that traditional accent in the Southern states than you are in Texan cities. Things like traditional “southern hospitality”? You’re going to find that more in the Southeastern states than in Western states like Texas (not to say that Texans aren’t hospitable! They definitely are. But it’s a different kind of hospitality. IDK maybe this is just something where you have to experience it to tell the difference???) 

Texas is Southwest. Texas is Texas. The South is Southeast. The South is the South. 

That being said - Texan or Southern, you’ll find big meals either way. But you aren’t going to find those big meals all the time. Big meals are family and friend get together kind of meals - Keith’s an orphan, and Shiro was probably one of his only friends, and after Shiro disappeared (and for a while before he knew Shiro too), Keith lived alone. Sure they probably cooked something big once in a while when Shiro was around, but Keith on his own? Nah. The dude probs subsisted on frozen meals and vodka. Your headcanons are safe. 

The one thing I will say FOR SURE though is that whether Keith be Texan or Southern, you know damn well that he and Shiro drink the fuCK OUT OF SOME GODDAMN SWEET TEA. 

And dear christ, just once I want to hear Keith or Shiro say “bless your heart” as an insult.