Grits: A Southern Tradition

I decided to dedicate my first blog to food since it is a huge part of my life; namely, southern food. I thought about what some of my favorite southern foods were and narrowed it down to one of my favorite southern breakfast foods: grits! I could eat grits with every meal. Cheese grits, butter grits, bacon grits, eggs and grits, and the list goes on. I decided to research the history of my favorite breakfast food and the information was actually very interesting.

Grits are served as a side dish for breakfast or dinner and are traditionally eaten with butter and milk. Three-quarters of the grits sold in the United States are from a belt of coastal states stretching from Louisiana to the Carolinas, known as the "Grits Belt."

Grits (or hominy) were one of the first truly American foods, as the Native Americans ate a mush made of softened corn or maize. In 1584, during their reconnaissance party of what is now Roanoke, North Carolina, Sir Walter Raleigh and his men met and dined with the local Indians. Having no language in common, the two groups quickly resorted to food and drink. One of Raleigh's men, Arthur Barlowe, recorded notes on the foods of the Indians. He mad a special note of corn, which he found "very white, faire, and well tasted." He also wrote about being served a boiled corn or hominy.

When the colonists came ashore in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, the Indians offered them bowls of this boiled corn substance. The Indians called it "rockahomine," which was later shortened to "hominy" by the colonists. The Indians taught the colonists how to thresh the hulls from dried yellow corn. Corn was a year-round staple and each tribe called it by a different name.

In the Low Country of South Carolina and particularly Charleston, shrimp and grits has been considered a basic breakfast for coastal fishermen and families for decades during the shrimp season (May through December). Simply called 'breakfast shrimp," the dish consisted of a pot of grits with shrimp cooked in a little bacon grease or butter. During the past decade, this dish has been dressed up and taken out on the town to the fanciest restaurants. Not just for breakfast anymore, it is also served for brunch, lunch, and dinner.

Even as times change, grits have evolved from a regional food often used for survival to a food of choice and comfort in many American homes. Grits have also gone upscale being featured on menus in many five-star restaurants throughout the country.

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