Does anybody besides me use the term “soda cracker?’
It must be a Southern thing because I have never heard it used north of the Mason-Dixon line. And even here in the Southland, I don’t hear it much anymore.
A soda cracker is a plain, old-fashioned saltine cracker. Here is the official definition from Dr. Google:
A saltine or soda cracker is a thin, usually square, cracker made from white flour, sometimes yeast, and baking soda, with most varieties lightly sprinkled with coarse salt. It has perforations over its surface and a distinctively dry and crisp texture.
When I am in a restaurant and ask for soda crackers, usually with oysters or gumbo, I can get strange looks from a young waitress. She may ask what that means, and I try to explain it. Often, I wind up with Captain’s Wafers or Ritz Crackers or something else that is not soda crackers. It won’t do. When I can remember, I take my pack of soda crackers from home, even to a fancy restaurant.
There are other uses for the term. “White as a soda cracker.” That often refers to someone’s complexion who does not have a suntan. Extremely white. It probably needs a little sun.
In the deep South, the term “cracker” has a similar meaning to hillbilly, redneck, bumpkin, country bumpkin, yokel, hayseed, hick or rube. It can be a term of endearment or derogation. It’s not a racial term because “cracker” and other synonyms are used mainly by upper-class folks, referring to working-class folks.
In our neighbor to the east, there is a widely-used term, “Georgia Cracker.” Their minor league baseball team was “The Georgia Crackers.”
My personal preference for breading is a soda cracker for any of these items:
Cheese
Peanut butter
Dip
Sardines
Oysters, fried or raw
Cream cheese
Other than a soda cracker, some types of crackers will not do with these delicacies.
There are other old-fashioned, Southern uses of soda crackers. They can be crumbled into a breading for fried shrimp, fried oysters, and fried chicken, sometimes mixed with a bit of cornmeal or flour. They can be crumbled into soups, stews and gumbo. I cannot imagine crumbling some other type of cracker.
Maybe, just maybe, I can rekindle the popularity of the old-fashioned soda cracker.
Jim Zeigler is a former Alabama Public Service Commissioner and State Auditor.
You can reach him for comments at ZeiglerElderCare@yahoo.com.
