Why Ask Why?

Peggy's Diner Wrens, Georgia There are certain dishes that are staples in the Southern Diet. One of the cornerstones of the Southern Breakfast is the simple dish of Biscuits and Gravy. For those of you who have never made this entree, the biscuits are the hard part - but not THAT hard. The gravy is made from a combination of flour, grease (from sausage, bacon or just about any other meat), a little water and some seasoning. That's it....not really anything more than that. When Diane and I first moved to Georgia, we looked for a simple place to have breakfast - a Mom and Pop kind of place where you quickly become a regular. The kind of place where they see you coming in from the parking lot and your coffee is waiting at "your" table when you sit down. The kind of place where you can forget your money one day and they figure you will just pay them tomorrow when you come in....In my life, I have known many of these places...in Dallas, Arizona and elsewhere across the country. The first stop in the quest for just such a place was to talk to Jeff, the guy down at the local feed store. He has distinct opinions about things like this....places to eat....the weather...the government....gays....women....you name it, the guy has an opinion. I felt he could be trusted in his suggestion of Peggy's Diner, at the corner of US Highway 1 and Georgia Route 80, in Wrens, Georgia. Driving past Peggy's would make you believe that the food, the ambiance....something must be good. There are constantly cars in front of the place. This was going to be great! A place, just like what we had hoped for....and only 5 miles away! The first cause for alarm SHOULD have been the smell emanating from the place. I assumed that the stench of rotting trash pervading the parking lot must have come from the recent rain getting into the dumpster. I really didn't give it a second thought....oh how wrong I was. Upon entering Peggy's, I noticed that something was a little "off", although I couldn't put my finger on it immediately.....the seating....was...now, mind you that this was 2005....segregated. Whites on one side and blacks on the other side. As we stood there, trying to figure out where to sit, the lady pointed us to a table over in the "black" section. It seems that it is an area reserved for not only blacks, but for anyone who is an "undesirable" - a list which also includes (one can only assume) Mexicans, Middle Eastern Terrorists....and folks who did not have Wrens-area roots running back to the Civil War. Taking our seat on the "darkie" side, we waited....patiently...for the waitress to stop gabbing with the overall-clad, fat farmer on the "white" side. Waiting....waiting...waiting....the story must have been a good one! As the waitress laughed at whatever the punchline to the story was, she made eye contact with us across the room. Her expression went from smiling and laughing to a look I can only describe as contempt - within 2 seconds. Seeing as how I was not one of her cousin's brother-in-laws (singular cousin, plural brother-in-laws), I obviously was going to be an inconvenience....that whole "taking orders" and "serving food" thing thing just didn't seem to be what this woman wanted to be doing just at that moment. Grudgingly, this woman made her way across the room - gaining more and more contempt for us with every step. By the time she reached our table, she was downright adversarial, "What you want t'eat?" Until that moment, I don't think that I had ever pissed anyone off just by offering to pay them money for a service. She was smacking gum. Diane and I had stumbled upon the Anti-Flo! I didn't want to cause any trouble in the place, so I figured we would just order, eat and leave. "I just want an order of biscuits and gravy with a cup of coffee." Simple enough - or so I thought. "Look, we aint got no biscuits and gravy," she replied in the most protracted tone possible. Huh? This is the South, right? I quickly looked down the menu to see if they were actually offered and the kitchen was just out...or, the unthinkable thought that Peggy's kitchen staff doesn't know how to prepare them....The Score, Biscuits and Gravy:1, Peggy's:0. I shouldn't be suprised. The actual act of taking an order was taxing even the strongest Peggy's waitress, how could I expect them to mix....flour...grease....and water.... Hell, that is three ingredients! Ingredients which can be found in any traditional southern kitchen... I tried to make sense of it all. How could this be? You cook bacon or sausage on a stove, you get grease - the foundation.... Then it hit me. They don't cook sausage on the stove....When all you do is warm up Sam's Club food in a microwave, you don't have the raw ingredients for biscuits and gravy.... Where did we, as a society, go wrong? And this is....I assure you....most wrong. We are going to have to have a word with Jeff at the feed store about this....of course, I think that his cousin is no other than the famous Peggy herself. The search continues.