Here in the South, we love our
grits! I love to fry my eggs up well done,
chop them up, then mix them up in my grits, with a slice of
toast, a cup of coffee, and umm ummm, that is some good
eating! Grits are something we southerners have taken
for granted, however. I was putting my suitcase away, after
just arriving for a friendly visit with my nephew and
his wife in Stephenville, Tx, and I was already wondering if I
would be able to find GRITS at the restaurant. I have to
admit that I felt a sort of letdown thinking about not having
my steaming bowl of good old southern grits. Oh well, I
pondered, I will just have hashbrowns, and not show my
disappointment! Can't let a little thing like GRITS spoil our
visit, now can we?!
The next morning, I was pleasantly
surprised to find that they had grits at the little Mom and
Pop restaurant, and they were all so nice when they found out
we were from South Carolina. They got very attentive to
us and began showing us their "Texas Hospitality"....I guess
they couldn't let us beat them with OUR SOUTHERN hospitality!
Now I will tell you a truth-my husband just doesn't
know what to DO with grits! He takes them and puts SUGAR
on them...and eats them like cereal. Oh it downright
hurts me to watch him ruin a good bowl of grits like
that. I recall my mother telling me that in North
Carolina, her home state, they threw grits to the chickens,
and she had never eaten grits until she came to SC with my
Daddy. It just takes a little while to learn the true southern
way of eating grits, but if you are willing to learn, you will
soon be substituting your fancy hashbrowns(city folk!) for
GRITS GRITS GRITS in no time!
The origin of grits is
entwined with the American Indians and the Jamestown
Colony. The Indians offered the Jamestown colonists bowls of
boiled corn mush they called "rockahomine," and which
was later on shortened to "Hominy" by the colonists. In
the S.C. Low Country, grits are always served as part of a
true Southern breakfast, and I can attest to that
myself! Ya'll come back now, ya hear?
Marty
Clayton Banfield
"A Southern
Writer"
