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Healthier Southern Recipes from The Help

If you love rich Southern food like creamy shrimp and grits, crispy fried chicken and rich, silky pies then you probably left the movie theater hungry after watching The Help, the film based on Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel.

“About 20 minutes into the movie, you’re craving fried chicken,” director Tate Taylor told Food & Wine.

The Help, which stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Emma Stone, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer analyzes the relationship between African-American maids and their white employers in 1960s Mississippi.

“Since the story crosses race and class lines, the cooking does too,” reported Food & Wine. “There are scenes of ladies’ luncheons with tomato aspic and cocktail meatballs and scenes calling for soul food like collard greens and fried chicken.”

If The Help left you yearning for black-eyed peas and fried green tomatoes, make some of your favorite Southern classics with fewer fat and calories.

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