Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls Do you eat grits?

I went with "other." They're quite good when prepared with milk, sugar, and a little butter (sort of like cream of wheat, as other people mentioned). I don't like 'em as much as actual cream of wheat, but they're pretty good.

Made any other way (like with salt *shudder*), and I detest them.

They really don't taste much like polenta to me, any way they're served.

I posted "Other" and this is why: Garlic Grits!

Plain old grits don't have much in the taste department. However, my Grandmother is from Greensboro, North Carolina. She has a wonderful recipe for garlic grits. To make these you follow the regular recipe by boiling the grits to make a mush. Then you add milk, grated cheese, and minced garlic and bake the mixture in the oven for 30 minutes. Mmmmm Mmmmm. My kids love it too. It is especially good with fish.

Enjoy!
Anne

Ditto. I've lived in the south for almost 18 years now, and I still have another 9 months to go before I grab my college diploma and escape. I absolutely loathe grits. I don't get it. It's a bunch of white, tasteless stuff in a bowl that you have to top with condiments before it even begins to taste good. There's this great Italian restaurant in midtown, and one of their brunch dishes is shrimp and grits. Apparently, it's a popular combination? I don't get it.

JD
:p

There's nothing *wrong* with grits--just bland. Grits is just a kind of mush, actually. I'm rather brain dead from moving, but I think it's just ground up corn. Grits need salt and butter to make 'em any good. But grits is good. <G>

<eg> Now, if we really want a debate, we can go for the age-old discussion--is "grits" a singular or a plural word? Nobody's ever resolved it yet, so....

Laura

I'm from the south and I absolutely hate grits. I lived in Mississippi while I was in kindergarden and I remember 1 day out of the week when we would have grits for breakfast. The only way I could eat them was if I put a lot of butter and sugar on them. Eventually I started bring my breakfast on the days I knew we were having grits. That was 20 years ago, and it still haunts me.

Melisa

In honor of this thread, I had grits for breakfast today. And they were good

Kaylle

Now I know exactly what I'm getting everyone for Christmas this year.

This is completely true. Though we don't often talk about it. There is a Mandatory Daily Quota of Grits Per Person. (Or just G.P.P., if you're more familiar with the term.) According to the tables, which are reconfigured each year, a person's GPP is determined by body weight *and* how deep in the south he/she lives. Woe to those who don't eat their fill!! You get sent up north. Someplace bitterly cold where professional sports are played inside a dome! Or where you're forced to ice fish. Either one is bad enough.

Ok. I might have made some of that up, but I'm not saying which part.

Grits are yummy! But there's a crucial element to their proper preparation I haven't seen mentioned here. When you dish them up, if they slide or run off the spoon, Do Not Eat Them.

Seriously, if you ever remember one thing I ever taught you, let it be this:

Grits must cling.

They must clump. They must stay on the spoon even as you turn it upside down. It should be a wrestling match. You- shaking the spoon, trying to pry them loose so they'll land on your plate (hopefully right in between the ham, eggs, and red-eye gravy.) Grits- trying like all get out to just hold. on. a. bit. longer.

That is how grits should be served. Also, mix them with butter, salt, ham, bacon, eggs, shrimp... anything salty. Really, really, really good.

Really! Why would I lie?

CC

SEEEEEE!!! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE, I SAY, IMPOSSIBLE!!! It might have worked when one was a svelte 109lb-er, but after having two kids but at least there are no grits....

TEEEEEEEJ

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Sorry.

Now, I know Maryland is technically below the Mason-Dixon line, but the thought of people from Maryland being classified as Southerners really cracks me up. (Especially Tracey and Sarah who love to pick on me about my supposed accent my use of the word y'all. <G>) I believe, technically, Maryland is now considered to be part of the "Mid-Atlantic States". It's not until you get to around Richmond that Virginia even becomes part of the South. Washington, DC certainly is not a "Southern" city (in the manner of Richmond, Raleigh, Atlanta, Birmingham, etc.)

To stay on topic, I have eaten grits many, many times, and while not one of my absolute favorite foods, I like them as much as any other breakfast food. As some of my fellow Southerners have pointed out, grits themselves taste like nothing, and the point is to load them up with good tasting thngs like butter and salt, or syrup or jelly. (Much like oatmeal, which I would never dream of eating plain.)

Annie

LOL Annie!

But I had to respond to this:

Tracey says y'all!! I heard her! Several times a day, in fact!

And, hey, they do serve grits in Maryland, which must count for something...


Wendy

Lots of non-Southerner people say y'all. I do. It's a useful word. (And far better than "you guys" or the dreaded "youse guys"! *shudder*)

Gasp! Sacrilege! You do realise that we Scots have a long-going feud with the English, partly because of their incomprehensible habit of putting sugar on porage. (Well, there are a few other things that we're holding a grudge on , but their desecration of porage is definitely one of them... )

LabRat

Oh, Wendy, Wendy, Wendy. I distinctly remember forbidding you to start a poll like this on the boards. Or, wait, nevermind - I just told you that I would laugh like crazy when you did <G>.

I have read through these responses with great interest, and I have to say, you guys gave some pretty enlightening replies. Especially you, CC - yours had me cracking up! A G.P.P.? Awesome.

Now, on the subject of grits, I have had them placed on my plate, but I can't remember ever having the courage to actually take a bite. Or maybe I did bite them once, and that was enough <g>. Either way, it's been a really long time. I do remember, however, that my grandparents used to eat them - and still do - fairly often. They like them with butter and a little salt and will tell you for a fact that grits are the key to a long and healthy life. Personally, I have my doubts, but hey, who I am to say?

Well, this poll confirms it. No topic too strange, no subject too off the wall for this board. I love that!

Tracey (who, as a Marylander, is constantly torn between the north and the south, and who does say y'all from time to time... as a result, of course, from her friendship with Annie <G>)

Annie, if we tease you for your use of the word "y'all," it's at least partly because you're not from the South yourself! The little bits of accent that you seem to have picked up from all over this fair country are great fun to poke fun at!

As for Maryland being a southern state... certainly my part of Maryland isn't. I'm still recovering from my visits to places where people actually trust you to pay for gas if you're allowed to pump before paying. But have you ever visited Southern Maryland? (No, DC is not "southern Maryland.") It's like its own little world, more similar to Georgia in some places than neighboring regions of Maryland. And they talk like Georgians, too.

I have friends who would actually eat grits at the dining hall when I was at school. I always thought it looked rather like oatmeal, but I declined to try some myself. *shudder* I don't think they put anything on them, though, just ate them however the dining hall served them.

I know this is about to veer off topic, but I just have to address this because it's something that fascinates me.

I can't say I've spent any quality time in Southern Maryland, no more than an occassional passing through. However, I know exactly what you mean because there are certainly parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania (both clearly Yankee states) that are pockets of the South. The area of Ohio I live in for awhile sported southern accents, a plethora of country music stations, pickup trucks with confederate flags and a Bible Belt mentality that rivals any southern state. In fact, I'd wager that it's more stereotypically "southern" than the actually Southern city I now reside in. There was even a town a few miles over with the slogan "come back soon, y'all" on their water tower. So I'm always intrigued by these southern pockets that seem to show up around the country. Maryland is less surprising, I guess, since it is (or was anyway) technically a Southern state. But I find it very interesting in more Northern states. I guess it has to do with how long families have lived in an area and where they came from previously.

True that. <G> And apropos my many moves (30+ moves in 20 years really ought to be some sort of record...) I'd like to mention that I just celebrated my fifth anniversary in Chapel Hill, officially doubling the longest amount of time I've ever lived in one city. If that doesn't make this home, I don't know what does. <G>

And now I'll stop rambling (sorry Wendy) and let this get back on topic. So, how about those grits...? <G>

Annie (who may not be Southern by birth, but figures that was just a slight mix up that was easily enough fixed once she was of legal age)

BACK to grits. I found a list called fun facts about Georgia and grits are mentioned specifically on this list

www.imao.us

TEEEEEEEJ

LOL!

Well, I distinctly remember trying grits as a kid. Now I don't have the faintest clue where I ran across it--having never lived farther south than Missouri, it wasn't a daily part of life or anything. Anyway, I was *not* impressed. They were bland, yucky, gross, even with syrup or whatever I put on them . . . and all too much like oatmeal, which I don't like either. Have never liked cooked cereals, to be exact. So no reason why I should like grits.

butter and brown sugar is good on grits, too.

Laura