Another Canadian who is clueless about grits, I am sure my local health food store has them but I am not really enthusiastic about polenta so I don’t know if I would like grits.
My mother, who is English and emigrated to Canada was vacationing in Florida and perusing the breakfast menu at a restaurant. She called over the waitress to ask what grits were. In a lovely southern drawl, the waitress replied “Ma’am, grits is grits”. She found it amusing but still didn’t order the grits.
I LOVE fried grits, but have very rarely had it.
Normal grits I only like sweet, with butter and brown sugar. Savory varieties really turn me off.
I don’t have them often. I should try to resolve that.
I get my grits from the historic water-driven mill that my family built in 1825, which is still operated once a month. They are more coarsely ground than most, and taste better. My favorite restaurant at the beach had a shrimp and grits dish that was basically a fantastic shrimp bisque over a fried grit cake. I recreate that occasionally.
Otherwise, butter, salt, pepper. Hot sauce and/or cheese sometimes. If I want a quick “complete” breakfast I throw in a chopped-up fried egg.
Grew up in Texas but without Deep South roots. When we had grits, they were served on the breakfast plate–to soak up the egg yolk & last bits of bacon or sausage.
Cheese (or cheese & jalapeno) grits are now on many trendy local menus. Can be quite tasty…
I had grits once at a restaurant when I lived in the US South.
They must have been below par, because all I can remember is the texture. It was like toenail clippings slightly softened by being put in boiling water.
My parents always served grits in when I was a kid; they were(are) New Yorkers through and through but when I was small we lived in Midwestern corn country, so, I guess they got the hang of it there.
I like grits plain with lots of butter salt & pepper; or egg yolk mixed in; or cheddar garlic grits, or my personal fave, cheddar-garlic-shrimp grits. However, eating it sweetened in any form is repulsive to me even though I prefer its close cousin, Cream of wheat, to be sweet.
Wiki gives an alternate name for grits as sofkee. I have never once, anywhere other than wiki, encountered such a term. Anybody else ever hear grits called that?
Those are called “Yankee” grits and are usually served to snowbirds and other foreigners from the North. 
I made a convert out of the Fella with shrimp grits. He now likes them just about any old way I fix them.
Save any leftover grits in the fridge and eat them the next day.
My grandmother taught me to spread out the grits in a pan so they are about 1 inch thick. Put in fridge. Then slice into squares and brown in some butter.
They get a nice crunchy outside and moist inside.
Yep. Disliking grits solely on the basis of these is like trying unseasoned mashed potatoes made from flakes and declaring one’s hatred of spuds. Totally not the same!
Once upon a time, the fellow (born and bred in Pierce County, Georgia,) was stationed at Fort Drum, NY. He asked the server for grits in the serving line, and received Cream of Wheat/farina, and had to 'splain to a very nice young man from the Bronx that ‘they ain’t the same.’ Mr. New York apparently truly believed that the two were interchangeable…
A grits-based meal that I haven’t seen mentioned, which was common in my mother’s and grandmother’s south Georgia homes: Country fried steak and cream gravy, served with grits. Add a couple of buttered biscuits, and it’s the food of the gods - but not for gods on diets!
The first grits I ever had were Speckled Heart Grits. Nuttier, more flavorful and more substantial than “Instant Grits”.
Nobody in the South is on a diet. Oh,we all are—but we’re not “practicing.”
I like polenta - dislike grits. Grew up in the South. In the South grits are indeed part of that diet of biscuits and cream gravy and far too much pork fat.
Probably true. But consider that the same could be said of Elmer’s glue. Instant grits are, like most things “instant,” are an abomination.
This sounds good. I love all things crunchy.
Yes - Anson Mill are excellent! So are Logan Turnpike Mill.
So southerners–is there a difference between “grits” and “corn meal mush”? Because to my mind they’re the same thing.
Not sure about corn meal mush, but I’m guessing it’s just the more finely ground version of grits. Probably not made from hominy.