Reading Triplers thread on regionlisms reminded of something that always jumps out at me when I attend a party or get together. Just how in the world does Fried Chicken and Spaghetti served together become standard party foods? I’ve only encountered this among black people in California, but I know that alot of them tend to be transplants from the South. But I’ve never been served that combination in the South. So what gives? Has anyone else seen this combination?
Another thing, I love Fried Chicken, and if made well I like a good Spaghetti, but together? I always have to restrain myself from asking what are they thinking.
Where are you from? See I’m also black but orginally from Detroit, where I’d never seen it before, but here in Oakland it’s like tradition or something.
The earliest citing of it in newspapers that I have access to was in Atlanta in 1918. Advertised from a restaurant, so not likely to have been just “black.”
The next cites are from the 1930’s in Ohio and Michigan papers. Includes a mix of tavern offerings and a few restaurants.
Then a few in the 1950’s, still in MI and OH and even PA. Then, cites in the 70’s-80’s only from Nevada and California.
My guess is that it was simply a special treat for POOR people–cheap but special.
My guess is that it went West with the soldiers from WWII who stayed, and possibly some of the migration during the Depression.
At our house, spaghetti is served with garlic bread and a salad. Whether I’m white or not depends on whether you accept my maternal grandfather’s definition…he didn’t consider my father, whose parents were Italian immigrants, to be white. Just about everyone else considers me white, though.
Spaghetti bolognese with meat, which is what we usually eat, should be follow a tossed salad dressed with oil, vinegar, and herbs. Garlic bread or garlic bread sticks accompany the main dish. If we feel like dessert, we generally have orange floats, which is what my father always likes after a meal of pasta.
I’m white, but my mother makes two types of spaghetti sauce, what they call black spaghetti and then another one. The black spaghetti is much thicker and the pasta tends to be mixed into the sauce more. With the other kind, the sauce is just ladled on top.
-Lil
Precisely how it is served. I don’t know, I just thought it was a weird combo, but maybe samclem is right, I’ve never had the nerve ask. I wouldn’t want to seem ungrateful.
There’s a Japanese restaurant in Hawaii that had spaghetti and fried chicken on its children’s menu. I think it was more out of a “Let’s pair two ‘fun’ foods for an entree” thought than inspired by any outside influence, though. It might just have easily been fish sticks and macaroni and cheese.
We ladle the sauce on top of our spaghetti to serve it but then each individual immediately stirs it up. Except my mother, who eats it with a fork, slicing sections of noodles and sauce out like it’s a pie…
Also, when growing up we always ate spaghetti from a bowl, but nowadays it seems everyone else eats it served on a plate. So I do too when preparing it for myself.
Every large get together that Mr2U’s family hosts (including us when we’re hosting) serves some type of pasta and sauce (marinara or meat) with chicken or whatever else we’re serving - there’s an italian contingent within the in-laws, and it just seems to be expected. We’re about as white as wonder bread, in case anyone wondered.