What Are Grits
Yes, you are talking to a northerner here who kept bumping into the dish every time we stopped for breakfast on the way down and then I even saw boxes of instant grits in the supermarket. Pretty much, add water and stir. My kind of recipe! ;) And after a little digging, I found that southerners eat grits for whatever meal they choose, not just breakfast! So, here goes…
“Three-quarters of grits sold in the United States are sold in the “grits belt” stretching from Louisiana to North Carolina. South Carolina declared grits its state food in 1973, writing, “Whereas, throughout its history, the South has relished its grits, making them a symbol of its diet, its customs, its humor, and its hospitality, and whereas, every community in the State of south Carolina used to be the site of a grist mill and every local economy in the State used to be dependent on its product; and whereas, grits has been a part of the life of every South Carolinian of whatever race, background, gender, and income; and whereas, grits could very well play a vital role in the future of not only this State, but also the world, if as The Charleston News and Courier proclaimed in 1952: ‘An inexpensive, simple, and thoroughly digestible food, [grits] should be made popular throughout the world. Given enough of it, the inhabitants of planet Earth would have nothing to fight about. A man full of [grits] is a man of peace.’
Tags: grits, Southern Food, southern-bywaysRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Southern Byways, Southern Food
2 opinions for What Are Grits
Linda
Apr 22, 2008 at 12:53 am
I still don’t know what grits are (is)! You have told me that you can add water but what are they? Are they nuts?
Josie
May 7, 2008 at 8:13 am
Basically, grits are dried corn kernels ground up. There may be a little more detail to that, but they are a corn based product. Usually, you use water, or milk/cream (to regenerate) when cooking them. You can serve them for breakfast or dinner. You can add all kinds of things, like cheese, bacon, tomatoes, shrimp, chicken, sausage, etc..
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