History of southern foods

I am a big fan of Southern food. I mean who can refuse a good barbecue place. In fact one of the first things i did on reaching Georgia Tech was go to the 'Ribs and Blues' restaurant at Tech Square.
Because of this interest in southern food, i always wondered about the history, about how it came into existence, was it actually started here or was it a mix of all the different recipes of the different cultural people who lived here. That's when i read this article about southern food and it's origins.
It contains not only the origins but also gives out some good recipes.
I wanted to share this to get an idea on how even "southern food" like southern culture is not actually southern but a mix of all other cultures.