# Texas, Our Texas... how you have fallen **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 21, 2023, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351 "2023-07-21T13:30:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/41 "2024-11-26T18:13:13Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > An anecdote of one. If there’s one thing you can’t generalize about in Texas, it’s HEB stores. They have the kind of management structure where each store manager is permitted to stock whatever products are of interest in the immediate area of their store. There’s a store on the west side of San Antonio that would make you think you are in Mexico. At my local not fancy schmancy HEB I found the following online: [https://www.heb.com/product-detail/patak-s-mild-korma-curry-simmer-sauce/155070](https://www.heb.com/product-detail/patak-s-mild-korma-curry-simmer-sauce/155070) * * * See if this one works: [![](https://i.imgur.com/7Qv7OiO.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/7Qv7OiO.png) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/42 "2024-11-26T18:18:41Z")
I’m not saying jars of Indian sauce are non-existent in Texas. But I did check a couple of dozen good-sized supermarkets without finding any. Here in western NY, finding a supermarket that doesn’t stock curry sauce would be like finding a supermarket that doesn’t stock ketchup. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2024, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/43 "2024-11-26T18:27:09Z")
I also notice I said Brooks Brothers rather than Brookshire Brothers in my post. Rest assured I was not searching for korma sauce in a men’s clothing store. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/44 "2024-11-27T04:22:44Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > > [@dougrb](#): > > > > see someone with a bible and a gun… RUN > > Been wise advice for 500 years all over the world. I run for either one of those, much less both. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/45 "2024-11-27T04:33:32Z")
Brookshire Brothers tells me you were likely in East Texas, which is very different from Houston (which is different from the Metroplex which is different from West Texas which is different from the Rio Grande Valley which is different from the Panhandle etc.) It’s hard to generalize about Texas. As @Great_Antibob notes, Houston has a large South Asian population that is well represented in local cuisine and culture. One of the largest cricket grounds in American is just outside of Houston. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/46 "2024-11-27T05:33:26Z")
Texas is big. No doubt. Almost like another country. Oh, wait… ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/47 "2024-11-27T17:37:29Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I’ve never gone to Texas willingly, but have been there on business a few times. I saw nothing to entice me to change that. West Texas is a blasted hellscape full of oil derricks, armadillos and snakes. DFW is a giant concrete blob, and Houston a sweltering hellhole. FWIW I’ve done San Antonio and Austin so I got to see the “good” Texas. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/48 "2024-11-27T17:50:46Z")
If they are _not_ using that thing to bring in over-the-air football broadcasts, then that is the very definition of a missed opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/49 "2024-11-27T20:00:28Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > FWIW I’ve done San Antonio and Austin so I got to see the “good” Texas. I had to go to San Antonio a few times on business. Didn’t see much of the city other than the Alamo and another old mission that supposedly looks like what the Alamo used to look like. Had a good chicken-fried steak at the hotel. Mainly, I remember the crazy-assed drivers and that long drive down I-35 toward the jobsite, dodging armadillos. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/50 "2024-11-27T23:30:44Z")
Sigh. You missed just about everything… 😟 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2024, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/51 "2024-11-27T23:45:50Z")
Whatcha got against armadillos? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/52 "2024-11-28T00:17:42Z")
Apparently, **[castor oil](https://www.havahart.com/how-to-repel-armadillos)** can work. Aisle seven, left side. Just holler if you need help. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/53 "2024-11-28T01:04:20Z")
I’ve always enjoyed the time I’ve spent in Texas on road trips. Lots of cool places and the people I’ve encountered have always been nice. The one exception wasn’t the fault of the State or its citizens: it was the day I went to Big Thicket National Preserve. First, it was love bug season, which meant I drove through clouds of those things for miles and ended up having to wash my car _twice_. Second, I got bit by fire ants when I went for a walk on a nature trail in Big Thicket. (Which was really my fault for wearing sandals and stepping off the trail to get a better photo angle) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/54 "2024-11-28T12:59:44Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Sigh. You missed just about everything Yeah, that’s the problem with business trips. I did walk along the River Walk. On one trip I had to go to El Paso to check out a possible project at a prison. The view from the plane going out there from DFW was about the bleakest landscape I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Frosted\_Glass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frosted_glass/32/3926_2.png) [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/55 "2024-11-28T14:21:07Z")
This is one of my favorite things about HEB. It was utterly confusing when I first moved down here, but now I really like the neighborhood focus of their stores. My local HEB has 6 different [Patak’s](https://www.pataksusa.com/) sauce flavors that are currently available in store and it’s not one of the fancy stores. Mine has a little bit of everything but the Produce, Bakery, and Meat sections are nearly identical to what you would find at [Fiesta Mart](https://www.fiestamart.com/). ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/56 "2024-11-28T14:53:32Z")
I’ve been to Texas for a couple of business trips and to visit friends. The things that stood out to me was the roads. Holy shit, a quiet suburban neighborhood will have a 4 lane highway with a boulevard down the middle. Here in the Northeast, that neighborhood would have a road wife enough for two cars to pass, and maybe some street parking. But if there’s a car parked on the side of the road you might want to wait to the the incoming car get past it before you drive around it. So much pavement. Roads everywhere. I just shopped online, and my closest supermarket doesn’t have korma sauce, but the larger place a couple miles away has two brands is bottled korma sauce. And of course there’s a whole Indian neighborhood, complete with a few Indian grocery stores one town over (other direction from the market with sauce.) i picked up 50 pounds of rice and 20 pounds of beans there at the start of the pandemic, in convenient 25 and 5 pound bags. Anyway, i really disliked visiting Texas, mostly because of the weather. The people i met were co-workers (fine) and friends of friends (very nice). I have no recollection of the food. I assume it was boring and palatable. I wasn’t looking for exciting food and i guess it didn’t hit me in the face. These days i wouldn’t visit Texas for political reasons. And because of the crime. Although one can probably avoid the crime by being careful about where one goes. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/57 "2024-11-28T15:49:34Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > West Texas is a blasted hellscape full of oil derricks, armadillos and snakes. I’m a Midwesterner, and have visited Texas only a handful of times for work assignments. On one assignment in 2014 I drove from Clovis, NM to Amarillo, TX to catch a flight. The landscape was… not sure how to describe it. It wasn’t “pretty” or photo-worthy, that’s for certain. Just flat land for grazing and farming as far as I could tell, with buildings here-and-there that could be seen in the distance. But I _ **did** _ see something I had never seen before in my life: a _real_ cattle company. Looking at Google Maps, it must have been Bovina Cattle Company located on Highway 60, about 4 miles SW of Bovina. I was shocked at how many cattle I saw. Thousands and thousands shoulder-to-shoulder cooped up in fenced pens. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/58 "2024-11-28T17:39:00Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > And because of the crime. Although one can probably avoid the crime by being careful about where one goes. I’ve lived here since 1964 and I have never had direct contact with any crime. Not that I can remember. Our house in Rockport was broken into while we were away for 6 months. But apart from that, I haven’t encountered anything in San Antonio. I live in an older (1900-1940-ish) urban neighborhood. I’ve worked on the deep west side of San Antonio, which is supposed to be crime-ridden. Never encountered any crime there either. 🤷🏻 Not saying there isn’t any, but obviously YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/59 "2024-11-28T17:51:43Z")
Yeah, “because of the crime” seems like an odd reason to avoid Texas. Living in Austin we’ve certainly got our share – mostly property crime – but not particularly more than most other urban areas. Most can be avoided by taking sensible precautions. But maybe it’s all the train robberies and cattle rustling that’s got @puzzlegal concerned. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351/60 "2024-11-28T18:06:06Z")
Maybe it’s just prejudice on my part. I looked up the murder rate, and it’s not nearly as bad as i thought. [https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/homicide\_mortality/homicide.htm](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/homicide_mortality/homicide.htm) All the guns make me anxious, though. I’ve never seen more people walking around with guns. Anyway, the roads, the weather, and the nasty laws are plenty of reasons to pick other places to visit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-our-texas-how-you-have-fallen/987351.md?page=4)