In my limited experience traveling the American landscape, I’ve noticed that some of the places that are technically in the South are not Southern in culture. Oklahoma is one of these places. Oh sure, they have lots of cowboy culture (there’s even a cowboy museum in OKC!), but they lack the one crucial ingredient to make a place truly Southern–and no, it’s not Jeff Foxworthy or the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. It’s sweet tea.
At this point you’re probably thinking “Gadzooks! No sweet tea!” And I know, that is worthy of an out-loud 
“gadzooks!” but I should also clarify that you probably can find sweet tea for sale in most large grocery stores in Oklahoma; but you cannot order it to drink in most restaurants. It’s actually quite sad, because I’ve been trying to drink less soda, and sweet tea seems to be the slightly healthier alternative of choice (what with all the alleged antioxidants and general lack of high fructose corn syrup).
I’ve reached the conclusion that you are no longer in the South when you cannot order sweet tea from the menu in a restaurant. And you may be in the outer reaches of the South when you order tea and the server has to ask “sweet or unsweet?” Luckily, there’s a Logan’s Roadhouse in the area, and they do serve sweet tea, even if most of the other places do not. And if nothing else, I’ve still got cherry cola (even if it is the ghetto mix of half Dr. Pepper and half Coke, a la K-Train’s recipe). So if you’re wondering what to get us for Christmas, feel free to send full gallons of sweet tea through the mail. 
Posted by Micah McMillan 
