Diet Dr. Pepper is my favorite.

Poor Mr. Pibb

Now, if you start seeing RC Cola in the machines you are so far south that you may actually need your passport to get back home.

And were two of the other choices Cheerwine and/or Orange Crush?

Now I want an RC Cola and a Moon Pie.:-)

Grew up with RC Cola in Illinois. Though it was southern Illinois.

A whole lotta' years ago when I spent a summer in North Carolina, there were no soda machines -- just coin operated coolers. And the beverage of choice was Tru-Ade, a thirst-quenching non-carbonated drink that came in orange, grape and some sort of berry. There was nothing better than a bottle of Tru-Ade to wash down a bowlful of Brunswick Stew or a platter of 'pig barbecue.'

and everything is with grits instead of potatoes.

EEL is right RC Cola is not just in the south. I grew up in central Indiana and RC was on the grocery store shelves with Nehi and all the other carbonated beverages.

... when you see boiled peanuts in the convenience stores...

I understand that RC is not just in the south, but it is considered a southern soft drink.

I was in Mt. Airy NC (Mayberry) a few months ago, and they were selling RC Cola and Moon Pie T-Shirts that proclaimed: "It's a southern thing, you wouldn't understand." Of course my wife, the Jewish girl from Skokie, had to have one.

when you see boiled peanuts sold everywhere!
People sell them by the roadside, their cardboard or wood signs announcing "Boiled P-nuts!"

B'alled peanuts were being sold outside the WalMart in Tuscaloosa, the way Girl Scout cookies are, here, the only time I ever went to the WalMart in Tuscaloosa.

Eve,
I'm not sure I want to eat those peanuts.

RayRay, the conversation actually went:

(Selling person) Hee-ah, have you some b'alled peanuts!

(Me - diggin' down for the JerseyGirl) Yeah, that'll happen!

and then my not-then-former daughter-in-law jumped in and, in lieu of slapping her (the n-t-f-d-i-l) head off, I ate the damned things. They were nasty. Consistency of parboiled lima beans.

You also know you're in the South when you order iced tea and it's sweeter than Coca-Cola.

Of course, everyone is referred to as "y'all" (although larger groups are referred to as "all y'all").

Maryland (although south of the Mason-Dixon line) only behaves like a true Southern town when an inch of snow falls.

And they sell caffeine-free diet dr. pepper in the south too. I know. I know. It is just chemical water, but such good chemical water.

Orange Tru-Ade, that was the best drink!
That was the only soft drink that my father ever had: he said that he had never had a Coke, and I believed him. He was very disciplined about fast food, etc.

Linda just focused me on geography...Maryland is south of the Mason-Dixon line. I never thought of that before. Do y'all sing "Dixie" with reverence?

(This is the second geographical ah-ha moment for me in the blog this week...the first being that Camp David is in Maryland.)

Cheerwine?? I save all my undesignated calories for regular wine.

Bucky... i have a friend who plays Dixie on the bagpipes. It's an awesome thing to hear. Brings me to tears, but in a good way.

Yes, Maryland is in the south. I like to point out to my friends and colleagues that three wars were fought on these hallowed grounds ... and people who claimed to be faithful Anglicans/Episcopalians lost two of them!

(My people didn't get here until 1887, so I got nothing personal at stake.)

Bucky -- "Dixie" isn't a really big song in these parts. However, you may be amused (or appalled) by the lyrics of "Maryland, My Maryland", our state song.

"Dixie" isn't a big song in these parts either, I've never heard it.

But the stars-n-bars Confederate flag, that's a different story. License plates, bathing suits, and hanging in the back windows of pickup trucks.

On a visit with my son to Ft McHenry when he was a tot, we learned that the entire Maryland government was locked up there by Federal troops to keep them from succeeding from the Union because of our proximity to DC.

Also there are those embarrassing lyrics to our state song (thanks hmpstd for linking). And, there are records of families completely split into two armies mostly from Maryland.

A Civil War riot took place in Baltimore city when the Union Army marched through there showing no love for the north.

And, finally, there's a stretch of York or Falls road that runs into Parkton where every house proudly displays a confederate flag to this day (although I really think that this may be racism masked as patriotism to the confederacy).

To bring this all back to a food topic,
many of our favorites that are readily available here in MD are southern in nature.

Bucky, the work of Messrs Mason and Dixon notwithstanding, there is a long-running (almost schizophrenic) debate here about whether Baltimore is the northernmost Southern city in the country, or the southernmost Northern city.
But considering I can see this from my bedroom window, I think the answer should be obvious.
BTW, costumed reenactors (from both camps) hold a annual wreath-laying ceremony there every year - but even then, I don't think I've ever heard "Dixie" sung by anybody.

Geography and cola...
I seem to remember back when I was a kid in the mid-60's it was very difficult to get Pepsi products here in Baltimore - on the other hand, Coke was ubiquitous.
(Coca-Cola was invented in Atlanta GA by a Confederate war veteran, of course.)
But when we summered in Ocean City (MD) and would cross the Delaware border (i.e., Mason-Dixon line) to shop for groceries, Pepsi was everywhere.
These days, I think it probably had more to do with the location of bottling plants and beverage taxes than anything else (we passed a large Pepsi bottling facility in DE on the drive to the shore - and Baltimore had an immense Coke plant right in the city on Loch Raven Drive), but as a kid it certainly left the impression on me that Coke was a southern cola and Pepsi was a northern one.
Now Dr. Pepper...that's a Texan cola, which is a different thing entirely.

Let us not forget that Abraham Lincoln was fond of "Dixie" (the song, anyway).

Bucky,
I forgot to mention this...

Last fall I went to Dothan AL to see the Kentucky Headhunters. The opening act played "Sweet Home Alabama" and everyone there stood up as if the national anthem were being played, but unlike the anthem, they went crazy. I was amazed that the people felt so strongly about that tune. Of course, their fervor was probably Budweiser-fueled.

Is it like that in Colorado, if a band plays "Rocky Mountain High"?

This topic turned into a little history lesson for me. I hear maryland, My maryland every year before the Preakness (don't I? I'm pretty sure.) but I've never really listened to the words.

I bet Dixie played on the bagpipes is great.

I grew up in Michigan, and we always considered Indiana and southern Illinois to be in the South.

For about the past two years I have been slogging through Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative ... I'm on page 460 (about half-way through) volume 2. I get the impression that Lincoln had great affection for much of the South, which deepened the famous "melancholy" he suffered from.

Bucky is right about the portion of MMM we hear at the Preakness. It's usually just the first verse, so we miss the gorier stuff.

And Lissa has channeled the minds of the Southern generals who kept trying to split the Union Army of the Potomac from the forces holding the greatest length of the Mississippi. They too thought that folks in Southern Illinois and Indiana were allies. In fact, though the Episcopal Church struggled mightily to hold together during the war (General Polk was a Bishop!!) the division of Indiana into southern and northern dioceses is the one place where it didn't really work.

As an amateur Civil War buff, I can't help but add to MD Canon's post that Sherman and Lee had been good friends before the war and had both attended West Point. Sherman met with Lee to broker the peace agreement, that Lincoln would have approved, but Johnson did not want to. He wanted to try the southern army, especially the officers for war crimes and he wanted to disarm the south. U. Grant actually ended up convincing him to accept most of Sherman's deal with Lee.

Also, re: Maryland My Maryland - we were required to sing this in elementary school, but never once did I know of more verses (and what they said!) til I was much older.

Lincoln was born in Kentucky.

I believe that the majority of Lincoln's in-laws considered themselves Southerners.

Joyce,
I'm an amateur Civil War buff myself. Most of the crowd I hung out with in Baltimore was as well.

As for Lee, I understand that Lincoln wanted him to command the Union armies, and Lee thought long and hard about it. As we know, he decided his allegiance went to Virginia.

Fl Rob, I think many of us are (amateur Civil War buffs) because of our close proximity to Antietam and Gettysburg, two of the bloodiest battlegrounds.

To me, it's fascinating to drive down some of the roads that lead into Gettysburg and imagine the soldiers limping along, with tattered shoes and few horses and lugging all the artillary up those same roads through Maryland and into Gettysburg.

BTW, If anybody has the chance to get to Gettysburg, The Farnsworth House has some very nice outdoor dining. It is in a building that is full of bullet holes from the war and is reportedly haunted. They have some items on their menu that date back to the 1800s such as peanut soup. Which brings me back to a dining topic!

I go to the Farnsworth a few times a year. By all means, try the Game Pie. Then again, how could anyone not order a pie filled with pheasant, duck, turkey and bacon.

One problem I have with the outdoor seating at the Farnsworth is that you have to wait in line to get an outdoor seat. I understand that they don't take reservations for outside, but let me put my name down. I'll go to the bar and spend money and when my table is ready come get me. Instead, the Farnsworth has everyone queue up in a line that makes me feel like I waiting to ride Space Mountain.

I'm a bit late to this post. I read the lyrics to Maryland my Maryland.
I didn't find anything offensive. Did I miss something? There was the line "Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum! " Anyone want to enlighten me about what the fuss is all about.

And while we're (back) on the subject of Maryland history, what about the flag?

Bucky,
the Maryland flag sports the crests of the founding families, the Calverts ( the family of the first Lord of Baltimore) on his father's side and the Crosslands, on his mother's side.

The black and gold represent the Calverts, and the red and white represent the Crosslands. That odd cross is called a cross buttony, and is required to be atop any MD flag flown.

I'm sure you see that at midfield at M&T Bank Stadium and wondered what it was. Dennis Miller, when he was on MNF wondered the same thing.

Its the Ravens, and now Orioles, way of tying themselves to the area in which they play.

I might add that Maryland has the coolest flag of all, with Arizona coming in a close second.

I like the flag, Bucky. Maryland has the only heraldically correct state flag in the US.

The state song is more appropriate to a KKK rally than to anywhere polite.

My friend in college Gregory Benen Sullivan (call me you bastard) used to call the Maryland State flag the King Vitaman flag. It was funny then.
http://kingvitaman.com/images/king-vitaman.jpg

I was born and raised here in Maryland. I'm a Southerner. I like our state song, "Maryland, My Maryland". We should keep it because it's a statement of Southern pride, heritage and Maryland history.

I hear the distant thunder-hum,
Maryland!
The Old Line bugle, fife, and drum,
Maryland!
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb-
Huzza! She spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! She burns! She'll come! She'll come!
Maryland! My Maryland!

She smokes a cigarette and sighs.

I don't know how anyone can take any of the state songs seriously that use the music to "O, Tannenbaum."

Lissa,
How about a National Anthem sung to the music of a drinking song? Or another patriotic song sung to another country's National Anthem? I take them seriously. Can't say that Maryland's State Song does anything for me, though.

RiE, you don't want to get me going on "The Star Spangled Banner." Take my word for it. It'll be worse than kids and Tex-Mex combined.

has nothing to do with food but...

...when everyone is offended that people think the civil war was over slavery.

...when the confederate flag has nothing to do with racism, rather "heritage, not hate."

You like to celebrate loosing, michael SC?

Your heritage is the same as mine, dude. If your people have been here long enough that they fought in the Civil War, you probably have mixed blood, too. Go back far enough, we're all African, anyway.

While I wouldn't want to try to reinterpret his comment, it doesn't strike me that michael SC was celebrating losing. Nor did he make any declaration in regard to his own heritage, or whether he has ancestors who fought in the Civil War. I just thought he was sharing his observations about how he perceives the South.