Most of these "Elvis specialties" are really just traditional Southern favorites. The peanut butter and banana sandwich may be associated with Elvis, but it was a staple of my 1960's childhood in Richmond VA - as common as peanut butter and jelly in other parts of the country. (I can't quite imagine my Mama learning the recipe from Elvis, so I suspect it existed long before Elvis made it famous.) Barbecue with cole slaw on top? A staple of my favorite hometown barbecue restaurant, served since the 1930's when my Dad was a child. Squirrel and chitterlings? Served at my grandmother's table too - a way for a poor farm wife to save money.

Anything associated with Elvis will sell books, even cookbooks. But most of what Elvis craved was the same thing you'd find in many Southern kitchens and restaurants. I was amused when I moved to New York and discovered that what I considered "basic Southern food" was considered exotic by most New Yorkers (who still can't make decent barbecue or macaroni salad). But then, I didn't eat my first bagel until I was almost 30.

In her brief bio-essay on Elvis, Bobbie Ann Mason points out that what seems so awful to elevated tastes--Elvis' love for grease, most of all--doesn't seem so remarkable once you realize that, for poor folks, fat equals made-it-at-last.

That kind of insight is missing from this piece with its ooo-ick treatment of what the previous letter writer could have called by its real name--white trash cooking--but was too nice to do.

You eat fat because it tastes good. And you eat "critters" because you're poor.

Well, normally I don't really give a shit about what people think about Elvis. But this article is such typical populist crap, I feel compelled to comment. I visited Graceland in 1996. Before I departed on my road trip from Ann Arbor, I read a touching Elvis biography. While on the 'bus' between Graceland and the museum across the street, I sat next to an 80-year-old woman who was thrilled to tell me about her first (and presumably only) experience seeing him perform on stage...in person. As a 23 year old, I was envious. Upon the culmination of my visit to Graceland, I had an immense appreciation for a Southern boy, who grew up in the public eye, was worshipped by millions, had a gift for music, strayed into acting, took care of his family and "friends", and changed the course of American pop culture. Eventually, he became "Vegas" and then died from an apparent combination of physiological failures induced by drugs. A sad story indeed, but not unique. He blazed the trail for many musicians and other celebrities. But this fixation on his food - what he ate - hell, he is a Southern kid who had the world at his doorstep and didn't have the South Beach Diet even on his radar. In his shoes, I might have indulged in the same crap food he did, because, perhaps, it would have made me happy - maybe for a couple minutes. I grew up eating balogna and ketchup sandwiches, but I didn't have the millions it would take to fly to Vegas from Memphis and indulge in PB&B...or indulge my friends (who siphoned their wealth off of the celebs, such as Elvis). I guess, in retrospect as a mere 34-year-old, I'm sick of the remembrances of Elvis as an indulger. A poor selector of nutrition. He was a great musician and not nearly as self-absorbed as today's so-called celebrities...and with a great deal more talent. That's all I have to say, really. Elvis was as human as the rest of us, and yet, 30 years after his passing, he is as scrutinized by the public as someone as untalented as Brittany Spears. That's disgraceful.

I dont know much about Elvis but from reading this article, this guy was clearly depressed....all that gorging...but I guess I can relate...

We do that so so well. Right now I'm blasting Amy Winehouse. One of you call the Calvinist Hippy police force! Save me!

Uh, by any chance, was that line composed by somebody who regularly eats sushi? You know, raw fish -- worm eggs and all.

Remember, your high-toned dining experience may well be something that I would call a "culinary disaster."

doesn't know that cole slaw goes on top of the barbeque in a sandwich in both Memphis-style and North Carolina-style BBQ cuisine, he's not much of a food writer, is he?

This sentence gives me pause:

"But drugs weren't Elvis' only vice; what has he been pigging out on to make him so bloated?"

Is the errant "has" only a typo, or evidence that the writer believes that ELVIS LIVES?

Cheap shot cheap shot cheap shot. Plus, this kind of writing (in regard to Elvis) was popular about twenty years ago.

Sietsema is woefully ignorant of both Southern culture and food science. Not only does he seem stunned at the idea of cole slaw on a BBQ sandwich, which is indigenous to several areas, but he refers to "canned frozen biscuits," an item that does not, and never did, exist. There are refrigerated canned biscuits, and frozen biscuits, but the hybrid he claims Elvis ate would not be feasible.

What a waste of electronic space.

A friend of mine recently visited Graceland and brought back a refrigerator magnet with the recipe for the Peanut Butter and Banana, and it is definitely not "toasted," as you describe it in the third paragraph. The recipe calls for you to melt a stick of butter (a STICK of butter!) in a skillet and fry it. I don't know how the Big Mac stacks up when that step is considered, but it should be clear that this is a fried sandwich, not toasted.

I'm surprised the author didn't include what to me is probably the most horrifying thing that Elvis apparently loved to eat: the Fool's Gold Loaf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fool's_Gold_Loaf

Granted, sweet and savory flavors do often go together well, but GOOD GOD!