South Carolina legislators who decree such things have anointed a state dance (the shag), a state dog (the Boykin Spaniel), a state vegetable (collards), even a state snack (boiled peanuts). But the Palmetto State (nicknamed for its state tree) has no official state dish. It’s not as if there aren’t plenty of good candidates to fill the void. Why not shrimp-and-grits or a Lowcountry boil, chicken bog or she-crab soup, barbecue in general or hash on rice in particular? Or how about the pimento cheeseburger?
There’s no gastronomical Herodotus to document its origin, but amateur historians believe the pimento cheeseburger was invented in the early 1960s by J.C. Reynolds, proprietor of Columbia’s Dairy Bar restaurant. Nobody knows what inspired him to flout cheddar and American in favor of a cheese spread sometimes called “the pâté of the South.”
