Fish Fry on the Farm
Aug/110
Fish fries occur very often in the south. When I think of southern food, I’m immediately drawn to memories of enjoying fish fries at my grandparents’ farm in South Georgia. We would spend all day catching fish out of one of their many ponds. We would mostly catch Georgia giant brim, red-breasted bream, bluegill, largemouth bass, channel catfish, and flat-head catfish.
As part of the family festivities, my uncle would often dig up fresh peanuts from the field. He would boil the peanuts and everyone would sit around chatting and visiting eating the peanuts out of the wooden bowls provided by my grandmother. All the men would talk about work and how the farm was doing while the women visited while preparing the upcoming feast of fish, coleslaw, sliced tomatoes, homemade dill pickles, hush puppies, fries, and many delectable southern desserts. The children would run around the farm playing hide-and-go-seek and chase. It was a blast!
The children played into the darkness of the night and when the fish were ready to be eaten, everyone would congregate together for the blessing. Visiting the farm is a cherished part of my childhood as well as my sisters’ and cousins’ childhoods. The days on the farm often seemed to go by slow, but it was a good kind of slow; the kind you didn’t want to end.