What is Nashville's claim to fame other than country music?

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by homebucket

There's two stops adjacent to campus, but none actually on campus. One called Palo Alto which is also next to downtown and an outdoor mall, and one actually called Stanford, which is closer to the athletics fields (5-10 min walk).

The "Stanford" station I believe is typically only used on game days and it's not really closer to campus, just to the football stadium. The Palo Alto station is at the end of Palm Drive, a 10 minute walk to the Oval and of course there are the Marguerite Shuttles. California Ave is also pretty close to campus.

[BnaBreaker]

This is not related to chicken, but here's a picture I like.

[iheartthed]

I finally found a "Nashville hot chicken" sandwich last night. It was a fried chicken sandwich with chili peppers in the breading, but I have no reference point for how authentic this version was. I don't really do well with anything spicier than Buffalo wings, so that's probably the last time I'll ever eat one. But I checked it off my list.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I finally found a "Nashville hot chicken" sandwich last night. It was a fried chicken sandwich with chili peppers in the breading, but I have no reference point for how authentic this version was. I don't really do well with anything spicier than Buffalo wings, so that's probably the last time I'll ever eat one. But I checked it off my list.

The one I had yesterday, the spiciness level was medium... you have the choice of "No Spice, Lite Mild, Mild, Medium, Hot, Extra Hot, and Reaper."

My assumption was that they use cayenne pepper in the breading, and my partner thinks that the place we went to also probably uses paprika. We both thought it was good, but really nothing to write home about. Like I said in my previous post, we probably won't have it for another year, if ever again. I'm glad I got the curiosity out of my system.

[Camelback]

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

This is not related to chicken, but here's a picture I like.

That's a sick pic!

[KB0679]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

No. 90% didn't know about it. And I just texted two not-white Nashville natives I know and neither of them had heard of it until "2017".

Your links are all to come-lately (like, post-2015) yuppie places. Nashville's PR machine wants to portray hot chicken as a deeply-embedded part of local culture when is quite plainly is not. Refer again my Cincinnati chili parlor count - in excess of 250 locations + it's served in grade school and high school cafeterias. That's why it's the king of all unrecognized local American foods - it's ubiquitous across class and ethnicity within an hour's drive of Cincinnati but almost completely unknown outside of it.

You're getting mad at a city's successful PR machine doing the typical stuff that makes it successful?

Personally, I'd save the moral grandstanding for important issues involving...morality. You seem like you're on the verge of requesting the feds to indict locally-owned Black chicken joints in Nashville and the city's CVB and Chamber of Commerce for conspiracy to commit fraud and for being in violation of Title VII laws or something.

[KB0679]

Originally Posted by craigs

I will never forget the day that I discovered that cole slaw could be tangy and crisp, rather than milky and mushy. Since that day, I have loved cole slaw with a passion.

Interestingly enough I only began eating cole slaw about 2 years ago when I was in my late 30s. Before then I would only occasionally eat it as an additional chili dog topping (which made it a slaw dog) but my mom and other relatives have always loved it. I discovered that not all milky/mushy-looking slaw actually tastes that way....and now my mom's favorite cole slaw (from our most popular local BBQ restaurant) has become mine as well.

[KB0679]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Yeah, I'm not saying that Nashville hot chicken is indistinguishable from fried chicken nationwide, but it's very common to see pan-fried, spicy chicken/fish, served on white bread, in black neighborhoods, nationwide. It isn't specifically a Nashville thing. So it's odd that the local preparation became a Nashville marketing thing, rather than a black marketing thing.

The typical chicken and fish sandwiches served up in restaurants or even at neighborhood cookouts in Black neighborhoods throughout the South are well-seasoned for sure but not particularly spicy. Typical Southern fried chicken doesn't have reddish skin and hot chicken is its own thing which is why it has long been specifically referenced as such in Nashville but nowhere else until actual hot chicken spots opened up across the country. As far as seasoning goes (and seasoning alone), I'd argue that jerk chicken resembles Southern fried chicken more than hot chicken but it, too, is certainly its own thing and even more so based on a more distinct history, culture, and geography.

And I'm curious: how does a type of food get mass marketed as a "Black food"? It made a lot of sense to identify the city of origin in the name to be marketed and that's pretty common. Neighboring Memphis does it with their 'cue. The northern neighboring state did that with is fried chicken and...well...

For example, in DC, I remember fried chicken/fish joints in black neighborhoods using mambo sauce, a spicy local concoction that uses cayenne pepper. So why not "DC hot chicken"? I've seen variants in NYC, Philly, Detroit and Chicago. It's definitely a thing, even if the ingredients and prep vary.

Mumbo sauce tastes more like sweet and sour sauce than anything. There are various concoctions with a more subtle bite to it but the sauce has complementary ingredients and isn't largely known as a mostly spicy sauce. So no, no "DC hot chicken."

This whole thing with hot chicken has spawned some really...bizarre arguments.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by jkc2j

Right.. Just like how you said hot chicken was "invented" in 2017, or your supposed two "non-white" friends you texted just so happened, said they hadn't heard of hot chicken till 2017.. the same year you stated the rest of Nashville all of a sudden heard of it.. very strange indeed..

Well I'm back. Even more southbound bachelorettes clogging I-65 on Friday than I feared:






Some typical Nashville self-congratulation:



I asked a few Nashville natives when they first heard of "Nashville Hot Chicken"

Individual #1 (circa-2001 graduate of Franklin High School):

"I was in New York City around 2010, at some hipster Brooklyn place, and I saw 'Nashville Hot Chicken' on the menu, so I ordered it out of curiosity..."

Individual #2 (circa-2015 graduate of Harpeth Hall High School):

"I heard about it around 2015, I guess the same time as everyone else in the country..."

Individual #2 (circa-1997 graduate of Father Ryan High School):

"I was watching Food Network one day and all of the sudden they were talking about 'Nashville Hot Chicken' as if it was 'a thing' but I had never heard of it..."

[Crawford]

Bizarre. No doubt the Nashville hot fried chicken (which is a different kind of hot, so definitely has zero resemblance to hot fried chicken served in black neighborhoods from coast to coast) and these epic bachelorette parties from Evansville and Akron, will put Nashville over the top for the Olympics.

[jkc2j]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Well I'm back. Even more southbound bachelorettes clogging I-65 on Friday than I feared:






Some typical Nashville self-congratulation:



I asked a few Nashville natives when they first heard of "Nashville Hot Chicken"

Individual #1 (circa-2001 graduate of Franklin High School):

"I was in New York City around 2010, at some hipster Brooklyn place, and I saw 'Nashville Hot Chicken' on the menu, so I ordered it out of curiosity..."

Individual #2 (circa-2015 graduate of Harpeth Hall High School):

"I heard about it around 2015, I guess the same time as everyone else in the country..."

Individual #2 (circa-1997 graduate of Father Ryan High School):

"I was watching Food Network one day and all of the sudden they were talking about 'Nashville Hot Chicken' as if it was 'a thing' but I had never heard of it..."

You posted all this to prove what exactly? Stuff that everyone already knows? lol. Uhh.. Nashville is a tourist city, that attracts bachelorettes. You posting a few photos while on the highway is redundant and proves your obsession with all things Nashville, though you claim not to like it.

Also, those quotes actually hurts your stance even more because your initial claim was that it was "invented" in 2017. You posting some random quotes is not only extremely anecdotal but it literally helps my argument more than anything.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Some typical Nashville self-congratulation:

Does Nashville host any large recurring events or host conventions regularly? Brisbane is by far the smallest city that will host a summer Olympics in decades, and I imagine that its public transit infrastructure is lightyears ahead of Nashville's.

[jkc2j]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Bizarre. No doubt the Nashville hot fried chicken (which is a different kind of hot, so definitely has zero resemblance to hot fried chicken served in black neighborhoods from coast to coast) and these epic bachelorette parties from Evansville and Akron, will put Nashville over the top for the Olympics.

You calling pan fried chicken made elsewhere hot chicken is being very disingenuous. Nashville hot chicken or just hot chicken is not even remotely the same as those places. In a previous post, you mentioned other places frying chicken in a pan and using sauce, where as hot chicken is dipped in a lard paste of peppers and other spices and deep fried (not fried in a pan) then uses an oily rub of spices like cayenne pepper, sugar and other spices as coating that gives it it's unique flavor. Shows you don't know much if anything about the dish and sounds like you have an issue acknowledging that hot chicken is a real thing that's unique to Nashville. Interesting.

You'd have a case if you were discussing Cincinnati chili. I mean what distinguishes Cincinnati chili that makes it stand out from anywhere else as if it's somehow unique? It's literally just regular chili, no spice and hardly any flavor, no offense to those people who like it but it was very overrated when I tried it, yet it's touted as it's own unique dish. Then people wonder why it hasn't blown up and become popular then blame marketing, it's because it's just regular chili, other than the consistency (which tends to be more thin and watered down) there really isn't much unique about it.

I can name only a handful of cities that have truly distinguishable dishes. Chicago deep dish, Philly cheese steak, New Orleans Creole food etc. Nashville has a dish that prior to 10 years ago, you couldn't find any where else, thanks to the Black community from where it stems but no thanks to the Nashville city leaders that didn't shine a spotlight on it a lot sooner, due to race politics, de facto segregation etc. Sounds to me a lot of people take issue with a dish primarily associated with Black people being more well known nationwide that's not tied to White influence.

[jkc2j]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Does Nashville host any large recurring events or host conventions regularly? Brisbane is by far the smallest city that will host a summer Olympics in decades, and I imagine that its public transit infrastructure is lightyears ahead of Nashville's.

Nashville hosts the CMA fest and other fairly large college sports events annually like the Music City Bowl and the SEC men's basketball tournament as well as the New Years Eve and 4th of July events, the latter that brought over 350k to downtown this year but it's no where near ready to host the Olympics. Any talks of that at this point are pure fantasy. This is more of jmecklenborg's attempts at using facetious arguments to bash the city, which it seems he's secretly obsessed.

[BnaBreaker]

Huh... I didn't realize that Nashville is the only city that has local news stations that occasionally air topical filler fluff pieces! To say jmecklenborg is grasping at straws at this point would be a major understatement.

[sopas ej]

Actually, Nashville was interested in hosting the 1996 Olympics, but the USOC chose Atlanta as the US bid city for '96, and of course it won---which was surprising, being that any US Olympic bid for 1996 was considered a longshot, being that the US only hosted a summer Games 3 Olympic cycles prior, and the IOC thought Atlanta didn't have the international recognition... I even read that some IOC members were confusing it with Atlantic City, NJ. And on top of that, Athens was considered the front-runner, being that 1996 would be the centennial of the modern Olympics (the bid cities for 1996 were Athens, Atlanta, Belgrade, Manchester [UK], Melbourne, and Toronto).

For 1996, the USOC received bids from Atlanta, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by jkc2j

You posting some random quotes is not only extremely anecdotal but it literally helps my argument more than anything.

Well you have yet to share what, if any, boots-on-the-ground experience you have in Nashville. I have a pretty extensive local resume for a non-native, including a lot of insider development knowledge since my dad has been the head of legal for one of the city's largest and most politically connected privately-held companies for the past 25 years.

You also insinuate that not only is it okay for rich people looking to start a food trend to go into poor areas and hijack their food (especially by denying its progenitor by changing its name), you're racist if you don't do that. Me calling out the well-funded ascendancy of "Nashville" hot chicken is somehow more upsetting than the ascendancy itself. Looks like someone swallowed the lie whole, and now is kicking the ball down the sewer saying the game was unfair.

In related news, this listing appeared in my inbox today:





The surroundings, as illustrated on the listing:

[jkc2j]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Well you have yet to share what, if any, boots-on-the-ground experience you have in Nashville. I have a pretty extensive local resume for a non-native, including a lot of insider development knowledge since my dad has been the head of legal for one of the city's largest and most politically connected privately-held companies for the past 25 years.

You also insinuate that not only is it okay for rich people looking to start a food trend to go into poor areas and hijack their food (especially by denying its progenitor by changing its name), you're racist if you don't do that. Me calling out the well-funded ascendancy of "Nashville" hot chicken is somehow more upsetting than the ascendancy itself.

In related news, this listing appeared in my inbox today:





The surroundings, as illustrated on the listing:

Share boots on the ground experience as in what exactly? lol. I don't have to prove anything to you. I'm a native born and raised in Nashville, lived here a majority of my life. That's all the information you need to know. I don't know you nor do I care about your opinions. I'm simply refuting any false claims you make, especially for someone who hasn't lived here for close to 20 years, I don't care how many times you claim to visit or who you're connected with.

Who said anything about being ok with rich people hijacking food? I literally posted many comments regarding my thoughts on how the Black community has been ignored, in regards to many things, hot chicken just being one of them. You apparently haven't been paying attention or you're lacking in reading comprehension. Hot chicken was intentionally marketed as a Nashville dish by former mayor Bill Purcell, who not coincidently founded the hot chicken fest in 2005 in order to bring light to the dish and while well known in the Black community, White Nashvillians whom most at the time lived in the suburbs either hadn't heard of it or had very little experience with it. The fest was an attempt to expose the dish to more of the local population and it was a very successful one at that, though my opinion, this should've been done a decade or two earlier.

Though, yes the dish has been copied and marketed nationwide thanks to franchises like Hattie B's, to locals the origins of hot chicken have never been in question, which is why there hasn't been much backlash. Also, it's considered a Nashville dish, because it's founders are from Nashville, simple as that. Why would it be called anything else? Adding Nashville to the name doesn't diminish it's origins what so ever, you're literality just grasping at straws here. I guess Black Nashville hot chicken has a better ring to it huh? lol. What about, White Skyline Chili or White Deep Dish Pizza etc. See how ridiculous that sounds? Then again, to you maybe not.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by jkc2j

Why would it be called anything else?

Well, per The Tennessean, the phrase "Nashville Hot Chicken" did not exist until about 2005:

[jkc2j]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Well, per The Tennessean, the phrase "Nashville Hot Chicken" did not exist until about 2005:

Right, which is clearly explained in my previous post regarding the addition of Nashville to hot chicken. Not only was it branding adding the city's name on there but it was also so that non natives could distinguish the dish more easily. Not sure if you didn't read my post or if you're being intentionally daft. Locals (especially Black Nashvillians) traditionally just say hot chicken. No need to add the Nashville moniker since we already live here and it's clear on the dish being mentioned.