Southerners can't bake?

The 100 finalists have been chosen for the 43rd annual Pillsbury Bake-off. No Alabama cooks made it to the finals, which will be in Dallas this year. I suppose that's not surprising, considering that no one from Alabama has ever won the prize, according to the list of winners Pillsbury supplied.

Indeed, looking over the list of past winners, there have been only 7 winners from The South. (A handful of folks from Florida have won, but I think that's basically a northern state that happens to be warm, so I don't count it.) Most winners are from California (not surpsing, given the population, I guess) and the Midwest.

That Midwestern success makes me say, Huh?

Having grown up on the dividing line between the Midwest and the South, this predilection for Midwestern baking has me thrown. I grew up eating Midwestern food, but my culinary personality, such that it is, matured under a Southern seasoning. I can say unequivocally: No way, no how is the food better in Bemidji, Minn., than it is down here. Perhaps the reason for this disparity is that the true Southern baker makes his or her own stuff and doesn't rely on the refrigerated section so much?