Grits came from the Native Americans. It's ground hominy. Interestingly
grits only successfully transferred to Italy and Spain (polenta). There was
an excellent paper delivered at the 1990 AAA on the failure of  certain food
technologies to transfer or survive. Grits is interesting because the
washing of the corn in lye helps release iron in the grain, making it
healthier in the diet. Much of the pellagra in the South before iron
supplements came from eating exclusively corn meal products and little else.

John Dendy
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stubbs, Donna L [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 3:04 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: being Southern
>
> Of German-Irish extraction, I remember Sunday breakfast at Grandma's in
> northern Kentucky, with chicken livers fried in butter eaten on buttered
> toast, fried potatoes, fried eggs, etc.  Not sure where the chicken liver
> idea came from, but I grew up with the meat and potatoes kind of meals.
> Didn't have lasagna till I grew up and went to high school.  And my mom
> thought spaghetti came from Chef-boy-ardee.
>
> Although the food discussions are interesting, the question remains - has
> anyone determined if a Southern cultural distinction is evident in the
> material remains?
> I haven't done any research, but the impact of slavery and racism on the
> Southern and US Culture remains in art work from various periods, a very
> visible material medium.
>
> How much is "Southern" culture, or any regional culture for that matter, a
> combination of other cultures/heritages?  I just finished reading Edward
> Bell's Slaves in the Family and it would appear that the South has been
> influenced by African, Carribean, French, Spanish, English, Scottish, etc.
> etc. cultures.  What would the Southern culture assemblage look like?
>
> Where did grits come from anyway?
>
> Donna Stubbs
>
>