Feature image, from Georgia Southern University 2015-2016 Fact Book, shows the distribution of where Georgia Southern students hail from in the United States.

Small towns close down while cities never sleep. Statesboro is quiet and slow paced while larger cities have hustle and bustle.The South has 70 degree weather in January while the North has actual winter. The two places may seem worlds apart, but their differences are what makes them interesting. Several people from Northern states shared what they miss most about home and what they love about the South.

“Food is always tied to culture,” stated Christina Olson, assistant professor in the department of writing and linguistics, who went to high school and college near Buffalo, New York (the place where chicken fingers were invented). Olson has lived in Statesboro since 2011. She said she not only misses actual snowfall of the North, but she also misses “a type of ginger ale called Vernors” which is a drink popular in the Midwest and “the chicken finger sub” native to Buffalo. She described the sub as “chicken fingers in hot sauce on a sub with blue cheese, lettuce, tomato, provolone.” Olson also said she loved the South because we consider macaroni and cheese to be a vegetable, and she is not wrong at all. Southerners love their mac and cheese.

Lindsay Larson, assistant professor of marketing, is originally from a suburb of New York City out on Long Island. Larson stated that she misses “a good chocolate egg cream” and all night diners. She explained that “a Waffle House doesn’t compete with a stand-alone Greek diner or something like that.” Here in Statesboro, there is also a lack of transportation. Larson misses the ease of getting from place to place that the city offered.

Recipe for Chocolate Egg Cream:

• Chocolate syrup
• Cold whole milk or half-and-half
• Ice-cold club soda or seltzer water

Directions:

Pour 3 tablespoons of chocolate syrup and 1/4 cup of milk or half-and-half into a 16-ounce glass. While beating vigorously with a fork, slowly add club soda until the glass is almost full. Add a straw and serve very cold.

Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten via Food Network.

Kristina Schmidt, senior exercise science major, is from New Jersey. She says, “No one is going to know what this is because it is a complete Jersey thing. It’s called Taylor Ham.” She also misses pizza and bagels from Jersey, but when she’s home, Schmidt misses Chick-fil-a and Zaxby’s. She said you cannot find the two restaurants anywhere. The South is not the South without some good chicken.

The North and South both have amazing types of food they are famous for, and traveling between the two will open eyes and mouths to new possibilities. Food can bring back memories of places you have been and remind you of your heritage and culture, but trying new foods can also give you an experience you might not have had without crossing a few state lines.