Less foreign/unfamiliar/different to you as Torontonian/Ontarian -- the American South vs. the UK?

[wild goose chase]

Canada and the US are among the most alike of countries, if not the closest pair culturally, and Canada is generally closer to the US than the UK in many ways by sharing a common North American culture. Yet the South, especially the Deep South is often said to be the most culturally distinctive or different -- somewhere like Alabama or Mississippi is definitely very different from somewhere like Toronto -- culturally, demographically, politically, etc. though places like the Carolinas, Florida or Texas might still be popular spots for Canucks to travel to.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_South

So, for this poll, I thought I'd compare what might be said to be the more culturally distinct/different sub-region of our closest neighbour country vs. the country of our Commonwealth colonial heritage.

Probably by far, travel to the US is much more common than travel to the UK for Torontonians/Ontarians, which may include the South perhaps. Another thing is however, on the flip side, is there are definitely many Torontonians with family ties within a few generations to the UK, while I don't think such a thing is common for the Southern US and Toronto, or Canada in general (well maybe Alberta and Texas).

Which of these two regions of the world feels less "foreign" (either firsthand experience with, travelled to, feel a connection with) to you?

I haven't been to the UK myself so I would have to answer the Southern US.

 

[prosperegal]

It would depend on which part of the UK. London and its surroundings would definitely be "less foreign" to me, despite driving on the other side. Brighton wasn't all that different either, nor was the East Sussex countryside, which was where I spent two months attending classes at Herstmonceux Castle back in 2001. As for the South, I'm not sure. I've been to Florida - does that count? And spent a few days in the DC area (again, does that count?) but it didn't feel all that different. I don't think larger cities in Texas would be either - Houston apparently has a decent sized East Asian population. But other parts of the south? Probably. And certain parts of the UK would be foreign too.

 

[SunriseChampion]

The whole subculture I am a part of is largely based on cultural anglophilia especially as it pertains to the arts.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The American south, especially the historical white areas shares a lot of history with the UK. I remember visiting Charleston, SC last year and thinking as I walked the old market that the people and the architecture reminded me of my family trips to the UK.

 

[King of Kensington]

The South was also the region that was most pro-British before the US entered WWII, while the Midwest was the most isolationist.

 

[wild goose chase]

I was just thinking about some ways/aspects many Ontarians may be closer to either place.

By travelling -- In most of the past few years, way more Canadians in general travelled to the US (about 20 million a year or more) than the UK (about 1 million a year). I think it's fair to say even if the South specifically isn't visited a lot, if at least a reasonable fraction of that 20 million is to the South, probably there's more travel to there than the UK.

Also not needing a plane ride, the South is actually surprising close to Ontario -- if you look at a map, even the part of West Virginia near Pittsburgh is surprisingly close to the border in Lake Erie and yet is considered South. Probably, most Canadians, myself included, have been to at least some of the more popularly travelled Southern states/cities like Florida, Texas, DC, Virginia, or the Carolinas etc.

Family ties -- I'm not sure how common it is to have Torontonians with families in the Southern US -- I've met a few people with family in Southern cities, but I'm not sure if it outnumbers those with families in the UK, especially when it comes to those family close enough to have regular contact, such as within an extended family. There are probably a lot of immigrants from the UK to Toronto from before the past generation or so, but I'd imagine also some immigrants from elsewhere in the world where a family member moves to Toronto and another to Houston or DC or something.

Politics/religion -- The Parliamentary system we share with the UK makes us similar in some ways and the Southern politics might seem foreign to some Canucks, especially Torontonians. Some of the more conservative views associated with the South might be a culture shock for more liberal urban Torontonians, but there are also more liberal/left-wing cities in the South like Atlanta, Austin etc. The South is generally also more religious than Ontario which is a way the latter may be more like the UK on average -- but again there are exceptions, often especially rural vs. urban. Also, some denominations/branches of Christianity in the South seem quite different from those in Ontario.

Culture/media/products/food/economy -- This is hard to say since you could argue it both ways -- there are some attributes that the UK has influenced us more and though the culture of the South is quite different to us, many of the attributes of mainstream US culture have been influenced by the South enough that it appears to us as visible in the American culture we share a market with. I'm sure many Torontonians, including myself, remember watching Peachtree TV, based in Georgia as one of our channels.

We share some consumer products with the UK not found in the US (such as those British chocolate bars like Coffee Crisp) and some British food like HP sauce is more common here than stateside, and there are some Southern foods that are harder to get up here, but it's becoming more common like Soul food/Southern BBQ etc.

 

[Johnny Au]

The Deep South is big on iced tea and Britain is big on drinking tea with milk.

Tea was at one point more popular than coffee in Ontario. Nowadays, tea is having a resurgence in Ontario (note the proliferation of Davids Tea for example). especially among hipsters and immigrants from South Asia and East Asia (both regions traditionally drink tea).

 

[wild goose chase]

The Deep South is big on iced tea and Britain is big on drinking tea with milk.

Tea was at one point more popular than coffee in Ontario. Nowadays, tea is having a resurgence in Ontario (note the proliferation of Davids Tea for example). especially among hipsters and immigrants from South Asia and East Asia (both regions traditionally drink tea).

Looks like nation-wide we are between the UK and the US but still closer to the latter regarding tea consumption with the UK consuming over 4 pounds of tea per capita yearly while Canada is more like 1 and the US only 0.5 pounds. Some of those stats surprised me though -- Turks drink the most tea, followed by the British Isles and Russia. Canadians drink tea per capita about the same as those in China and more than those in India.

I don't know how it breaks down by province but I could imagine BC to like tea (lots of British plus East Asian cultural influence), perhaps Ontario too?

Another way we're more like the South food-wise than the UK is rice consumption. According to these statistics , Canadians in the past few years consume about 11-12 kg of rice per year, while the US is around 14 kg per year (I'm assuming the 16/17 numbers are projections). The EU's annual consumption is 6 kg of rice (and from a quick googling the UK seems close to it too). I'm surprised to find out also that Canadians (and Americans) eat more rice per capita than Mexicans.

The subtropical Deep South is traditionally and still the largest rice-growing and consuming region (though California is the second-largest rice grower after Arkansas). The South Atlantic region in the US eats the most rice at 20% followed by the Pacific at 18%.

 

[prosperegal]

Looks like nation-wide we are between the UK and the US but still closer to the latter regarding tea consumption with the UK consuming over 4 pounds of tea per capita yearly while Canada is more like 1 and the US only 0.5 pounds. Some of those stats surprised me though -- Turks drink the most tea, followed by the British Isles and Russia. Canadians drink tea per capita about the same as those in China and more than those in India.

I don't know how it breaks down by province but I could imagine BC to like tea (lots of British plus East Asian cultural influence), perhaps Ontario too?

Another way we're more like the South food-wise than the UK is rice consumption. According to these statistics , Canadians in the past few years consume about 11-12 kg of rice per year, while the US is around 14 kg per year (I'm assuming the 16/17 numbers are projections). The EU's annual consumption is 6 kg of rice (and from a quick googling the UK seems close to it too). I'm surprised to find out also that Canadians (and Americans) eat more rice per capita than Mexicans.

The subtropical Deep South is traditionally and still the largest rice-growing and consuming region (though California is the second-largest rice grower after Arkansas). The South Atlantic region in the US eats the most rice at 20% followed by the Pacific at 18%.

I'm surprised about rice consumption and the South Atlantic. I would have thought consumption would be higher in the Pacific considering ethnic demographics there.

 

[wild goose chase]

I'm surprised about rice consumption and the South Atlantic. I would have thought consumption would be higher in the Pacific considering ethnic demographics there.

According to the report, rice consumption is "27% among White Americans. 71% of Asian Americans eat rice, followed by Blacks with 59%, and Hispanics with 47%."

Perhaps the South Atlantic has a bit higher rice consumption because of the southern Black population. Florida also has a lot of Hispanics too. Though I'm also surprised that after Asian, Black Americans are second in rice consumption, higher than Hispanics, when I thought it'd be the other way around.

Apparently, rice first came to the Southern US through African slaves in colonial times, and it was they who first brought rice-growing culture to the US. Later, rice also begun to be grown in California on the West coast because of the Chinese labourers that arrived during the California gold rush.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice#United_States

 

[wild goose chase]

The South was also the region that was most pro-British before the US entered WWII, while the Midwest was the most isolationist.

It's interesting that this was the case or that Southerners felt connected to Britain at all given the general trend that Southerners are the Americans today it seems most likely to disavow any British or European connections by roots and insist that they're "American" alone when asked about where their ancestry comes from.