Southern Food

My coworker just sparked an interesting question. She said that she wanted some southern food(not an unusual request), but this got me to thinking "what exactly is southern food?" Is is the fresh vegetables, meatloaf, catfish, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy? Or is it the seafood that we have in our gulf..Shrimp, oysters, flounder? Or is it Barbeque that is made famous in different areas of the south. Or is it the Creole/Cajun food of Louisiana? Or is it a combination? How can you define the culinary masterpieces of a region so diverse in just one phrase "Southern Food"? Just a random thought.....