WEBVTT - The Southern-Style Cafeteria Episode Is Off the Rails 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:11.680 Hello, and welcome to save your prediction of iHeartRadio. I'm 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:12.400 Annie Reeve. 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:14.640 And I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we have an episode 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.320 for you about Southern style cafeteria dining. 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.520 Yes, yes, and we had to be specific because there's 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:23.880 a lot of different types of cafeteria dining. 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:27.640 Yes, absolutely, and this is a kind of particular one, 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:31.800 and we figured it's worthy of its own of its 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:34.080 own episode. Yeah. 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:37.960 Yes, And I, even though I already know the answer, 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:42.320 I asked the question, Lauren, was there any reason was 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:43.000 on your mind? 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:44.839 Well, you suggested it. 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:47.760 Yeah, here we go. 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:54.440 So Father's Day just passed this past weekend, and so 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:59.040 I was asking Annie if she had any Dad related 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:03.800 still that she might want to talk about, and she 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:07.680 she mentioned, did you mention a specific one or just 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:10.080 like just like cafeteria style restaurants in general? 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:13.520 Yeah, I just said cafeteria style. But then you followed 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:16.640 up and I was like, these are the two which 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:18.679 I now know. The other one was that I couldn't 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:22.520 remember the name. These are the two that I associate 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:23.240 with my dad. 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:31.919 Yes, yeah, yes, I, perhaps perhaps embarrassingly, have spent twenty 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:34.319 years in Atlanta and have never been to any of 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:36.959 these to any of the chains of these places. I 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:40.440 still have never set foot in a Piccadillys, but but 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:44.080 I have been many times to like like privately owned 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:49.280 independent ones. So here we are. 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:53.600 Yeah, and that that totally counts. Yeah, And it was 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:56.520 really interesting to read about. And I there are some 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:58.880 things that I've just never considered that they were, like 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:04.280 the invention up the tray. Yeah, okay, I haven't thought 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:09.360 about that. My dad, It's funny every time you ask 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:12.080 me and I send you a bunch of topics, and like, 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:16.360 all but two of them are very southern. He was 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:21.520 a very he loved Southern food, and when we were 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:27.480 growing up to celebrate things, he wanted to go to 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:32.680 what was at first a Morrison's and then became a Piccadillies, 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:36.240 which we will talk about, which to me is a child, 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:41.000 I was a little I don't want to say condescending, 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:44.080 but I was like, we could go anywhere, and we're 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:49.680 driving thirty minutes to this cafeteria and I've confessed before, 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:54.040 I'm really nervous holding the tray. Oh sure, yeah now, 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:57.080 and then even as a kid, I was like, I 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:57.919 can't do this. 0:02:58.440 --> 0:02:59.360 I'm gonna drop it. 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:02.840 Do you know how clumsy I am. A real nerve 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:06.560 wracking experience for me, But I do get like he 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:10.880 loved it. He I've also said he loved liver and onions, 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:12.640 and you couldn't get that in too many places, but 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:16.640 a lot of the cafeterias had it. But he just 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.560 I think he loved the affordability of it. He grew 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:24.440 up in that mindset of like you're getting this price, 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:30.359 and he loved that there were all these options. And 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:32.880 you know, even me as a kid who was like 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:36.800 we could have gone somewhere else, I did like like 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:40.119 it was sort of fun to see like, oh look 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:41.040 at all these options. 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:45.640 Yeah damn, what will it be? And I get to 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.640 pick exactly what I want and it's not like yeah yeah, 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:50.160 sure yeah. 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:52.560 And I did like the food. It was just sort of, 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:56.080 I guess for some reason, to. 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:58.280 Me, I was like, this is not fancy, like we 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:02.480 were talking about it. This is normal, This is normal. Yeah, 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:04.240 what is fancy about this? I see you. 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:10.560 Yeah, he loved it. He loved it. Well, yeah you 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:12.200 can see. I mean, we're going to talk about a 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:14.200 lot of the are mentioned, at least a lot of 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:18.479 the foods featured at these types of establishments here, but 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:20.440 a lot of Southern foods. 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:26.080 Yeah, yeah, right, it's I list a lot of them. 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:27.400 Just kind of take it from there. 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:29.440 Oh yeah, in automats. 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:31.520 Oh and automats definitely sure. 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:37.920 The automat episode. Okay, So this brings us to question 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:44.600 Southern style cafeterias. What are they? 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:51.359 Well, American Southern style cafeterias are restaurants where you typically 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:55.200 order by going up to a series of stations inside 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:58.120 the restaurant and picking a number of dishes to make 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:01.200 up your meal you have and workers will add the 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.000 dishes to your tray or scoop them onto a plate 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:08.000 on your tray, which you then take, hopefully safe and sound, 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:10.120 to a table in the dining room where you eat 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.159 your meal. You pay at the end of the line 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.360 when you order, and can add a beverage, which might 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:16.240 be handed to you or brought around to your table 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.039 by an attendant, or might be self serve. Something like 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:20.840 a yeast roll or a piece of corn bread is 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:23.599 usually included, and you can usually add a dessert like 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:26.760 a pie or a banana pudding to your order. The 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:32.000 dishes tend to be local Southern style comfort foods, proteins 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.120 might be roasted or barbecued or breaded and deep fried. 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:38.920 Sides might be a stewed veg or bean dishes, cast 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:42.520 rolls of various kinds pastas like spaghetti or mac and cheese. 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.480 Sometimes spaghetti and meat sauce is considered a protein that's 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:48.680 a little bit granular. For this episode, I needed to 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:51.960 mention it out loud, but anyway, the concept is sometimes 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.919 called a meat in three because the typical order is 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:57.760 a meat in three sides, though many as often do 0:05:57.839 --> 0:05:59.919 have pricing for like a meat in two, for a 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.839 play of four sides, or for ordering things a la carte. 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:08.720 The concept is considered a little nostalgically old fashioned, and 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:11.479 a lot of the dishes tend towards a little old 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:14.839 fashioned like kind of heavy and salty and soft, really 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:18.839 stick to your ribs satisfying sort of things. Though. This 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:23.040 style of restaurant is really homey but also really structured. 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:25.359 It's a it's a. 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.920 Choose your own adventure book but for but for eating. 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.560 Yes, And I have to say, my dad was not 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:38.080 the only fan like people have such nostalgias. 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.600 Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh. 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:46.360 So my condescending child, I understand and now I want 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:48.160 to go back and try to. 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:52.320 Get Yeah, yeah, I was. This was a very hungry 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:54.720 episode for me. I was really mad that I wasn't 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:59.520 eating everything I'm about to talk about. Yes, anyway, okay, 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:02.000 acknowledge here at the top that yes, there are other 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.240 types of cafeterias out there. They have the same route 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:07.880 and the same style of service, but evolved into their 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:11.800 own thing, you know, like a cafeteria at a school, 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:16.840 a hospital, prison, office building, shopping mall ikea, or like 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.000 a fast casual concept like a Boston Market or Chipotle. 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:24.640 Those are different than what we're talking about today. We 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:29.480 do absolutely want to hear about other cafeterias, right in. 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:30.080 Let us know. 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:33.240 Do you have a local one that serves specific local things. Yes, 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:38.560 tell us about it, please, thank you. Also, not all 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:42.720 meet and threes have cafeteria style service. Some do table service, 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:47.360 some are buffets. But yeah, here we are so all 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:51.360 that being said, Southern style cafeterias tend to be places 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.680 you would go for lunch specifically. Some are open for dinner, 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:58.240 maybe brunch on weekend. A lot of the chains, especially 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:04.360 are very bright and like sterile feeling, maybe a little institutional, 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:07.280 But some of the independent ones are either fancier or 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.480 kind of dive heer. There's often an egalitarian sort of 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:13.960 feel to them these days. You know, at the table 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.000 next to you, you might see folks you know or 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:20.520 folks from a completely different walk of life. There's usually 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:22.400 a kitchen in the back where they prepare the food, 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.800 often inan like big service tubs, and then either like 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:29.560 a bar, or a number of separate stations with warming 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:31.680 trays or warming lamps where you can look at the 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:35.240 dishes on offer and pick what you'd like, like a buffet, 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:37.719 but each station has an attendant who is serving you 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:42.600 rather than you serving yourself. Traditionally, anything that can be 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:46.840 served with an ice cream scoop probably is, and the 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:50.800 dishes often rotate, with different things on offer every day, 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:54.200 sometimes on a schedule, like meat loaf is on Mondays, 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:57.440 fried catfish is on Tuesdays, that kind of thing, But 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:00.800 the dishes really can vary based on where you are 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:04.400 and like the general price point of the restaurant in question, 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.600 Like there are absolutely cafeterias that will serve you a 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.480 slice of prime rib or some nice roasted trout or 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:14.760 like sautage shrimp. Mouse cafeterias are on the more affordable side, though, 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.000 and serve less expensive proteins like lots of chicken and pork. 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.600 So you've got you know, your fried chicken, chicken, fried steak, 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.040 fried pork chops, fried catfish or cod or whiting. Maybe 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:29.520 honey baked ham, roasted chicken, roasted turkey, non fried pork chops, 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:33.880 they do exist, blackened fish, barbecued pork ribs or pulled 0:09:33.960 --> 0:09:37.600 chicken or pork. Maybe some meatloaf, chopped steak, beef tips, 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:42.760 pot roast. Also Okay, I didn't know exactly where to 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:45.440 put this note, but I need to inform you that 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:49.319 gravy can and will be ladled on top of any 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:52.600 protein or starch. If you're fancy, you got a choice 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:54.720 between your white gravy and your brown gravy. 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:58.520 That is your own adventure. 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:05.600 Indeed, that is up to you. Cheese Wisely, the sides 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:07.800 are often the kind of things that take a long 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:10.800 time to cook but are easy to batch, the sort 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:12.600 of things you might otherwise see at like a family 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:15.280 supper on a nice Sunday or at a Thanksgiving or 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:19.160 maybe a good cookout, So like collards or mustard or 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:22.080 turnip greens cooked down with hot pepper and vinegar until 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:26.480 they're just silky, creamy squash or broccoli casserole topped with 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:30.120 bread crumbs and plenty of melty cheese, baked beans in 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:32.400 a sauce of brown sugar and tomato, or maybe some 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:35.360 lighter hop and john or like just simple stewed butter 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:40.120 beans or black eyed peas, soufflated sweet potato or carrot casserole, 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.199 or stewed apples, also sugary that they should probably be 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:47.760 classified as desserts, but they're not. Green beans stewed within 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:50.320 an inch of their life, probably with pork product in. 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:54.160 They're always ask if you're vegetarian, stewed or fried okra, 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:57.800 creamed corn, corn on the cub, potatoes mashed or baked 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:00.720 or French fried, or hash browned ice play in our 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:04.520 seasoned hush puppies, which if you have never been to 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:08.480 the South and have never had there, these like savory 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:11.680 fried dumplings, and you should come to here and you 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:18.880 should eat them because they're so good, really important, very 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:23.720 usually some kind of like super stew like maybe chili 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:28.480 or brunswick or chicken and dumplings, a side salad, a 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:34.040 jello salad, a potato or macaroni salad, cole slaw, tomato 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:38.960 and cucumber salad. Desserts could include like a scoop of 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:42.600 cobbler or a slice of pie, a big ol' wiggly block, 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:46.120 or maybe some cubes of jello, puddings of various flavors, 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:51.280 maybe layer cake or strawberry shortcake. Like, the South is 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:55.440 big and there are lots of local specialties. For example, 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:57.679 if you're in Texas, you might get enchiladas. If you're 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:00.960 in Louisiana there might be gumbo. If I have not 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:04.120 mentioned your favorite menu item, it is not a personal 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:09.400 slight except for you. You know what you did? No no, no, no, 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:09.880 no no no. 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:10.360 I love you. 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:15.440 I love you. Please write in, please wad in. In 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:19.640 terms of beverages, fancier and or dive, your joints might 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:21.920 serve beer and wine, but the drinks are generally non 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:26.360 alcoholic soft drinks, iced tea, have hot tea, hot coffee. 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.600 You know, I highly recommend getting yourself a sweet tea 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:35.400 and just seeing God through the sugar rush. 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:41.120 Yes, yeah, gets your hush buck, get your sweet tea. 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:45.319 I have to say, you know, looking back to as 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:52.040 a child, I didn't know half the things work, huh. 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.560 But the jello. I love how so many people brought 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:56.920 up the jello because you could see it just. 0:12:57.720 --> 0:12:59.280 Shining and gleaming. 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:06.280 Yeah, you knew it was coming. Yeah, yeah, all these 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:12.439 choices you had to make. Well, speaking of what about 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:14.120 the nutrition. 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:16.560 Really depends, really really depends. 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:23.000 That's up to you, buddy. Yep. Indeed, well we do 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:24.520 have some numbers for you. 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:30.080 Yeah, okay. So this type of restaurant is rare enough 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:34.520 these days that market reports on the American restaurant industry 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:39.679 do not always include standalone cafeterias as their own category. 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:46.160 In fact, most of the reports that I saw did not. So, however, 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:51.240 there certainly are still chains and independence in operation. At 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:56.360 one this family owned Houston cafeteria called Cleeburn, they estimate 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.920 that seventy percent of their customers are regulars. 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:04.959 Yes, And I was actually watching a kind of mini 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:08.400 documentary about it before this, and it was really sweet 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:11.280 because they were just kind of walking around and interviewing 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:14.079 people and they're like, yeah, I've been coming here with 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:17.920 my family for x amount mini generations. 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:19.560 Every week or even every day. 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:20.040 Yeah. 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:22.920 Yeah, And some people would come you know, lunch in 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:26.720 dinner or like they I think they referred to it 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:28.720 at one point as like the dining room. 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:33.080 But yeah, yeah, people treating it like their own home. 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:39.720 Yeah yeah, in a nice way, in a friendly way. 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:46.440 Yeah yeah, definitely, definitely. Well, we are going to talk 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:49.920 more about Cleveborn and some other places because there is 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:51.920 quite a history here to one. 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:54.360 Pack there there is, and we are going to get 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:55.800 into that as soon as we get back from a 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:56.320 quick break. 0:14:56.320 --> 0:15:07.520 For a word from our sponsors, and we're back. 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:11.360 Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you. Okay, So, as we said, 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:15.480 we are focusing on Southern style cafeteria dining for this episode, 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:20.800 but briefly, according to several sources, the idea of cafeteria 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:25.720 style dining like this was introduced at Chicago's Columbian Exposition 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:30.240 in eighteen ninety three by John Krueger, and Krueger was 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:35.400 inspired by Sweden's Schmorgasbors, so he set up a restaurant 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:38.280 to showcase where he thought this type of dining could go. 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:42.359 In Kruger's mind, this type of restaurant should serve affordable, 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:48.840 light foods, and he called them cafeterias. Millions of people 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:52.840 attended this event, and we're exposed to this idea, and 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:56.480 after this we see the branching of two interpretations of 0:15:56.520 --> 0:16:03.880 this idea, the automat and the cafeteria. In eighteen ninety eight, 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:08.160 William and Samuel Childs introduced the tray and trey line 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:10.760 format at one of their New York restaurants. And this 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:12.480 is where I was like, I've never thought about who 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:16.640 invented the tray, but I'm not saying they did. But 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:18.720 I was like, I've never even considered this, and I 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:23.840 should have. Share. Customers liked trays because in their minds 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:27.040 it was cleaner. The whole concept of this style of 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.320 dining may have been in part popularized by Henry Ford 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:34.160 of Ford Motors, who really sold this idea of assembly 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:38.920 style production. In the nineteen tens, cafeterias modeled after this 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:42.640 one started opening around the country, but they particularly took 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:48.280 off in the South. The Southern style cafeteria was popular 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:52.560 for restauranteurs for many reasons similar to what we discussed 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:55.360 in our automatic episode. It was an example of cuisine 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:59.200 that was consistent, efficient, and in this case, fairly cheap. 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:03.000 On top of that, this was a time of a 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:07.159 lot of industrialization and an evolution of what work looked 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:10.159 like a lot of folks were moving from farming to 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:14.880 working in a factory. In some fields, people had perhaps 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:16.719 had the time to go home for lunch, but they 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:20.000 didn't have that time anymore. On top of this, more 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.600 and more people were moving to cities, but they may 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:25.959 have still craved the homie food from the more rural 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:29.800 areas that they grew up in, or even from going 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:33.760 home for lunch. Restaurant purveyors saw an opportunity in that 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:38.840 to cater to all of this, some cafeterias started opening 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:42.879 and offering something like a meat and three plate. It 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:46.640 was quick, affordable, clean, and offered many options for workers 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:47.680 on their lunch break. 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:52.360 And part of the draw here, especially during the leaner 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:55.640 times of like the nineteen teens and twenties, was this 0:17:55.880 --> 0:18:01.120 baked and emphasis on minimizing expensive meat and filling up 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:06.520 on generous portions of vegetable and starch based sides. Nutritional 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:08.760 science was also kind of starting to happen around this 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:11.240 time and was recommending this style of plate building. 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:20.760 That's interesting, okay. The food itself was very traditionally Southern, 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:25.240 very homey, comforting. Perhaps, as discussed, a lot of these 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:28.960 dishes trace back to the recipes and influences of enslaved 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:30.240 West Africans. 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:34.440 Also important to note these are places that were most 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.680 likely segregated before up until the Civil Rights Act of 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:38.600 nineteen sixty four. 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:44.600 So yes, okay, So a lot of the big chains 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.680 when we're talking about this category started opening in the 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:52.440 nineteen twenties. If I don't mention your favorite, I'm sorry 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:57.040 and write in Also, these are abbreviated histories, otherwise this 0:18:57.160 --> 0:18:59.080 episode would be ridiculously along. 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.679 Yeah, at least a few of these. We could go 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:06.600 on for a whole, solid, normal, forty five minute episode about. 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:11.120 Yes, but I was starting to feel fear in my heart. 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:15.840 So certainly, if we ever get around to traveling again, 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.160 I would love to, you know, do some oral history 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:23.320 with some locals about you know, whichever whichever chain is pertinent. 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:26.600 But anyway, here we are, Yes, here we are. So. 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:31.000 One of the first was a chain called Morrisons that 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:34.159 popped up in the nineteen twenties. It was first opened 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:38.920 in Mobile, Alabama and founded by Ja Morrison. This restaurant 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:42.520 aim to provide these fresh, homey, pre cooked options that 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:46.200 were financially within reach, and people really took to it, 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:48.800 and over time the chain balloon to one hundred and 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:53.439 fifty locations across the United States. Each of them offered 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:57.040 over one hundred items that were made that day, and 0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:01.720 many of the offerings were based on region. This chain 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:05.439 remained popular until the nineteen eighties, which you might hear 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:08.320 see you might see a eighties come a lot. We'll 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:12.280 talk about that later. Most of their locations were eventually 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:17.720 bought by competitor Piccadilly, Inc. There is one still operating 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:20.440 under the name Morrison's Immobile, and you can actually find 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:22.480 a lot written about it, and a lot of it 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:27.680 is really endearing, so recommend but that that is That's 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.080 definitely what happened. When I was missing to you, I 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:31.600 was like, I know it used to go buy one 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:34.639 name and it went by a different name. It was 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:39.560 this there you go which speaking of Thomas J. Costas 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:43.320 opened a small cafeteria in Baton Rouge, Louisiana called Piccadilly 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:47.120 in nineteen thirty. Two years later, in nineteen forty four, 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:50.960 a businessman who had experience working in the cafeteria business 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:55.000 named Tandy Hannibal Hamilton purchased this cafeteria. 0:20:55.400 --> 0:21:01.280 Good name, Oh Southerners with their names like that, miled. 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:07.520 Tandy is in quotes and everybody refers to him as Tandy, 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:09.840 and I'm like, I don't know him that way. I 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:14.080 can't refer to him as Tandy, So I'm referring to 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:18.920 him as Hamilton. Yes, but I understand that. I guess 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:26.920 Tandy is what he really went by anyway. Hamilton had 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:29.560 worked and learned as a chef previously during his time 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:32.800 as a soldier in France. In nineteen eighteen, when he 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:35.240 returned to the United States, he started working as a 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:39.280 Sioux chef in Texas. According to some sources, the lack 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:42.480 of affordable housing caused by the oil boom and the 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:44.639 state meant that he and his wife lived in a 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:48.080 tent city and gave birth to their daughter there. They 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:51.000 then moved to Kansas City, where Hamilton got a job 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:55.159 with the chain The Forum Cafeterias, eventually rising up to 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:58.479 earn a position as a chef and later the general 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:02.360 manager of the chain. Inten thirty four, a little less 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:05.120 than a decade later, he felt limited in his job 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:08.760 growth opportunities, so he decided he wanted to see about 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:16.080 starting his own cafeteria style restaurant. Its purchasing Piccadilly. Despite 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:19.719 wartime rations of the time, Hamilton tapped his friends and 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:24.800 set to work expanding, opening restaurants in various states, and 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:27.359 like we see so often in these episodes, he was 0:22:27.400 --> 0:22:30.760 really big on consistency and he tested a lot of 0:22:30.760 --> 0:22:34.040 the recipes himself. But he was also big on incorporating 0:22:34.080 --> 0:22:39.520 local taste. He really wanted franchises to have their own input. 0:22:40.520 --> 0:22:44.280 Once submitted, if approved, the recipes they might send would 0:22:44.280 --> 0:22:48.960 be used at every restaurant. They even developed this whole 0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:52.800 system based on minimizing food waste and cost. They got 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:55.480 pretty specific, like how to cut meat. There's actually a 0:22:55.520 --> 0:22:59.720 really long paper you canus that I appreciate and enjoy. 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:02.760 But they got they really got down to the nitty 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:06.960 gritty of the whole thing. Their growth in the South 0:23:07.080 --> 0:23:10.120 really expanded in the nineteen fifties and in the sixties 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:14.280 they were operating as far as Arizona. The fortieth Thiccadillies 0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:18.600 opened at Decatur, Georgia's South to capmol And nineteen seventy one. 0:23:18.880 --> 0:23:19.800 When I read this, I was. 0:23:19.760 --> 0:23:22.520 Like, oh, oh, yeah, that's just right down the street. 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:22.800 Yeah. 0:23:22.840 --> 0:23:29.680 Sure. The number of locations doubled by the eighties. Well Yes, 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:37.520 here's another one. In the nineteen forties, Bob Louby established Looby's, 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:40.280 which went on to become one of the country's first 0:23:40.440 --> 0:23:45.480 cafeteria chains. His father, Harry had opened New England Dairy 0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:49.560 lunch Cafeterias Missouri in nineteen eleven. After Bob took over, 0:23:49.640 --> 0:23:51.879 the chainsaw a lot of growth, first in Texas and 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:55.760 then elsewhere. By the eighties they had sixty three locations, 0:23:55.880 --> 0:24:00.520 primarily in Texas. And people are so they remember this 0:24:00.680 --> 0:24:07.719 so fondly. Absolutely, Yeah, yes, But unfortunately we do have 0:24:07.720 --> 0:24:10.399 to mention in nineteen ninety one there was a mass 0:24:10.400 --> 0:24:14.240 shooting at a Luby's, including Texas. It was the most 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:17.399 fatal mass shooting in the US until two thousand and seven. 0:24:19.320 --> 0:24:23.240 Yeah, which, at a certain point, I guess speaks to 0:24:23.680 --> 0:24:27.320 the way that these sorts of places can become centers 0:24:27.320 --> 0:24:31.040 of community. Unfortunately, in terms of a tragedy like that. 0:24:33.280 --> 0:24:37.680 Lubies celebrated their seventy fifth anniversary in twenty twenty three, though, 0:24:38.280 --> 0:24:42.720 and put out displays in some locations of vintage cookwear 0:24:42.840 --> 0:24:45.800 and photos of their staff and customers from years past. 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:50.720 Yes, and I don't think we've mentioned but a lot 0:24:50.760 --> 0:24:55.080 of people have discussed how they have like Thanksgiving meals. 0:24:55.160 --> 0:24:57.240 You can have a Thanksgiving meal at a lot of 0:24:57.280 --> 0:25:01.680 these places. Yeah, yeah, a lot of people fondly remember 0:25:02.040 --> 0:25:09.040