Dinner On The Ground

There is nothing more southern than dinner-on-the-ground. These potluck get togethers were held yearly and were usually a part of the church homecoming celebration. Family and friends returned home from faraway places to join the festivities. It was a special occasion; a feast for the soul and the stomach. 

As a child in Southeast Texas, I grew up with dinner-on-the-ground at Dixie Missionary Baptist Church in the Dixie Community of rural Jasper County. Every year, the families whose ancestors had been a part of the church for decades gathered in the church for a sermon and singing. After the service, we poured out of the church and gathered under the surrounding shade trees. Permanent wood tables, built from scraps of lumber and often held up by sawhorses, were laden with a feast that would feed the entire community. Almost any southern dish you could name was likely to be found: Fried chicken, ham, chicken and dumplings, black eyed peas, turnip greens, potato salad, green beans, cornbread dressing, and more. But we all couldn’t wait to get to the dessert table: Pound cake, peach and blackberry cobbler, pecan pie, banana pudding, sweet potato pie, and jelly cake to name a few. And at the end of the last table were jugs of sweet tea wash it all down. 

Dinner-on-the-ground isn’t what it used to be. The fellowship is still there and families still gather, but most meals are served inside air conditioned church activity centers. The food is different as well. There are more store bought and restaurant prepared items. Nothing can replace those old fashioned outdoor dinner-on-the-ground homecomings.