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Posted April 2025It is a sad fact that getting older means that it hurts more to eat certain things than it did when you were younger. And when I say “hurts,” I literally mean it. Cheap, greasy, and salty food that we Mississippi natives grew up on gives fair warning to all of us that it just isn’t good for you. Indigestion, heartburn, and that feeling of all-consuming mid-afternoon lethargy — a/k/a “carb coma” — are all telltale signs that we probably ought to do better.
But we persist. Like every other adult male Mississippian, I am no stranger to fried chicken, fried catfish, cheesy casseroles, vegetables cooked with bacon, and the other staples of a southern diet.
Now that I’m pushing 60 though, I’m finally learning to be a little more attuned to certain things in the hopes of preventing at least some side effects. As someone with a medicine cabinet full of antacids and proton pump inhibitors, I know from whence I speak. But I also know that a lifetime of cultural dietary habits will never completely be broken. As anthropologist Margaret Mead said, “It is easier to get a man to change his religion than to change his diet.”
Traveling for work doesn’t help. Trying to avoid unhealthy food on the road in Mississippi is sort of a Kobayashi Maru — there’s no way to win. The highways and byways of rural Mississippi are not exactly bursting with health food stores or even Panera Bread locations. To be sure, the Mississippi restaurant-scape of my adulthood is far different than that of my childhood, or even my fairly recent adult years. Old-school truck stops have largely been replaced by Pilot and Loves, with their hot dogs, taquitos, and co-branded fast food joints. Immigration has also influenced dining options. By my observation, there is now a Mexican restaurant in almost every small town in Mississippi.
Case in point: last week I was in the tiny hamlet of Pittsboro, the county seat of Calhoun County, searching the land records on a judgment debtor. For those who’ve never been to Pittsboro, it is the quintessential wide spot in the road, and is a perfect example of a town that never got a railroad. So, unlike its neighbors Calhoun City and Bruce, it never grew. Nevertheless, even Pittsboro — population 157 per Google — has a Mexican restaurant called El Jefe across the road from the courthouse. I haven’t tried it yet but am going to make it a point to do so.
Asian restaurants are also ubiquitous. And when I say “Asian,” most of you know what I’m talking about. It is hard to find a traditional Chinese restaurant now. Most of these small restaurants bill themselves as generic “Asian” restaurants, with very similar offerings. There will always be General Tso’s Chicken, Beef and Broccoli, Cashew Chicken, etc. Many of these places also offer Pad Thai and sushi. And because we are in Mississippi, many of them will have fried chicken and banana pudding and other such things on their alternate buffet line.
It’s not just the heavy meat and threes at the standard country or main street joints that add to the waistline of the unwary. These Mexican and Asian restaurants will also hurt you if you don’t watch out. I had a particularly unpleasant experience several months ago when traveling to Oxford for a meeting scheduled for 1:30. Running behind as usual, I couldn’t get to Oxford in time to have lunch as I had planned, so I stopped in Batesville. Turning west at the exit, I went down Highway 6 looking for a fast food place that wasn’t crowded (I know, I know… I can feel the condescension as I write this).
I saw the Taco Bell on the north side of Hwy 6. The parking lot didn’t have many cars, so I decided on it. I pulled in, got out, went to the door, and then figured out why hardly anyone was there — it was temporarily closed for repairs. I looked around, and across the way at an adjacent shopping center (where Kroger is located), I saw New China Buffet. It beckoned. Good sense and sound reasoning stood no chance and yielded in short order.
Big mistake. When it is lunchtime and I haven’t eaten, I get hangry and my self-control buckles. So between eating too much, and the high starch and sodium content of the meal, I was pretty much miserable the rest of the afternoon, and was thankful I had some Tums in my car. When I mentioned to friends from Batesville that I had eaten there, they both just shook their heads and said, “Why?” “I was in a hurry,” I replied. One of my friends, a surgeon, continued to shake his head and look at me as if I were a complete idiot. He wasn’t wrong.
What’s worse is that Batesville is one of my favorite towns in Mississippi to get lunch on the road. I have great friends there, and there is a delightful little place in the older part of town, close to downtown. Court Street Patio is located at 108 Court Street, a couple of blocks east of the Batesville courthouse. It is in an old house, converted into the restaurant. It features a regular menu of sandwiches and salads and has a rotating daily special accompanied by a dessert. Strawberry shortcake is a staple. The setting is nice, the prices are reasonable, the people are friendly, and the food is good. It’s the type of restaurant where you can have a satisfying, freshly prepared meal, and not feel like you’ve consumed a load of grease, salt, and starch, like you do at a country buffet or its Asian equivalent.
Unless of course you just want to. They know their customer base and have the necessary options. After all, it is a for-profit establishment, and we are in Mississippi.