Definitely of Yankee origin with Western influence and the only way I have found Okra edible is when it was used in Crawfish Etouffe I had the pleasure of eating in Louisiana. I mistakenly thought it was used to thicken and was educated promptly by the cook. I was then taught about File powder given to early settlers by the Native Peoples. I eat everything and dislike very little, growing up poor in the North we ate a lot of taters and whatever meat we could get our hands on. Root crops were big here and I don't put parsnips and rutabegas very high on the list either but there is always a way to make something edible. You can take virtually anything and cook it with butter or bacon and make it edible. One of my stepdads was from Arkansas, he grew a plant called Poke in their garden, fried with bacon and onions, excellent. I would much rather eat the greens of turnips and nearly anything else than the root crop that wasn't a tuber like a tater. But Okra....You could take cheesy grits and slice up Okra real thin and not ruin the grits buy why? I love Southern cooking with the exception of Okra, I suppose it ain't truly Southern if Okra ain't there somewhere but its just flat lost on me. Some folks up North feel the same way about our favorites like Asparagus, Brussel's Sprouts, Cabbage (of any kind) but we don't have anything that approaches Okra for inedibility. I'd rather eat Dandelion Greens, Nettles, Cattail Root, Camas Bulbs, Fiddleback Ferns, just about any Mushroom. If forced by starvation I would bend to the will of my stomach and eat them otherwise besides the "No Thank You" bite I am out.