Whistle Pigs and Pole Beans

Visiting Peter and Vicki Generally at their home outside Charlottesville is always a treat, especially when you’re coming from a not-quite gentrified corner of D.C. during a heat wave. The 1840’s house set on acres of rolling hills is charming and eclectic, much like they are.  Should you visit, you might find Vicki tending her dahlias and zinnias or Peter and their son Phinizy shooting skeet in the front field.

My favorite part of the Generally’s property is the vegetable garden, which reminds me of those at nearby Monticello. Though hers isn’t nearly as big or as particular as the Thomas Jefferson model, it is packed with regional varieties of squash, beans, and other Americana vegetables–no broccoli rabe here.  Vicki is also diligent in excavating any critters and pests that feast in her garden, particularly groundhogs, known in some circles as whistle pigs. 

Even Peter and Vicki had yet to hear the term whistle pig until recently, despite that they grew up in the South and had practiced medicine in rural communities for most of their lives.  Vicki got such a kick out of it that she jokingly asked the pest control guys she hired to save the carcasses so she could pose with them for her Christmas card photo. 

Most of the other regionalisms I’ve come across lately has been food slang. This summer at a produce stand in South Carolina, I pointed to these and asked the seller what they were.  He told me they were butter beans, which didn’t help me much.  Then I was reminded of another southern reference in last week’s Times Dining section, Grandma Burned the Beans:  A Lucky Break, in which gardeners differentiate green beans by whether they grow as a bush or up a pole.  It seems that Southerners favor the pole beans, also called runner beans. The stronger, Italian varieties are allegedly named scarlet runner beans.  Unlike Italians, Southerners apparently like beans as sweet as their tea.

While there are plenty of delicious words, sometimes those associated with a particular region are the most fun. In this case, fun is from the South.  Why does it seem that the region below the Mason-Dixon line holds onto more regional differences in language and in food? Lots of people develop their own lingo. What I find interesting is that a whole region or class of people from a region decides to substitute whistle pig for groundhog, or butter beans for lima beans. The quirkiness of it makes me want to sift through Edna Lewis and Savannah Style or head up to Southern-inspired Colorado Kitchen to learn more about an area that’s new to me.