Growing up in the South, Cracker Barrel felt a bit like a theme park attraction. Its down-home frills, Old Country Store merch, and cartoonishly indulgent comfort food embody a storybook spectacle of Southern life that doesn't really exist anymore in popular culture.

I think we’re abusing the term a little bit too much, where it’s losing its meaning,’ National Review staff writer Caroline Downey said on Thursday night.