# Were these magic grits? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 9, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632 "2005-06-09T19:30:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Try\_As\_I\_Might](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Try\_As\_I\_Might](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try_As_I_Might)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632/61 "2005-06-14T22:02:16Z")
> [@kniz](#): > > **You obviously don’t know a thing about grits** and haven’t spent much time eating at Wafflehouse. **Hashbrowns are scattered,smothered, and several other strange things**. > Grits come plain, but are better with butter and salt/pepper added, but not with flies. 😃 grits are worthy of the old bold, large font, eh? I do miss the south. 😃 Well, I lived 12 years in Texas and another in the big easy, so it may not come as a surprise that I have more than a passing acquaintance with grits–but certainly not as much a boy from Bama or Mississip. BTW, a little salt, a good bit of butter, and a blast of Tabasco is my choice. Oh, and I spent way too many high school nights inebriated at 3 am in a Wafflehouse in Dallas. I was not proud, nor smart… I still think flies would improve anything from Wafflehouse. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632/62 "2005-06-14T22:37:21Z")
> [@Try As I Might...](#): > > grits are worthy of the old bold, large font, eh? I do miss the south. 😃 Are Southerners **that** passionate about grits? I’ve only been in the South once, and that was fairly briefly. This was in Virginia. I felt all kind of out of place. I never even thought I had an accent until when in Virginia it was obvious **I** was speaking in a funny accent. (I’m a Michigander.) Fortunately, I found the folks in Virginia friendly. Even though I talked kinda strange. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632/63 "2005-06-14T22:40:00Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > What if it’s the majority viewpoint? A good government ought to suppress any coercion that the majority might exercise over the minority. As Thomas Jefferson put it, “The majority, oppressing an individual, is guilty of a crime, abuses its strength, and by acting on the law of the strongest breaks up the foundations of society”. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632/64 "2005-06-15T12:25:36Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > After all, time’s sure fun when you’re having flies! > > Daniel I can stand to be out-gunned. But I can’t stand to be out-punned. 😃 Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632/65 "2005-06-15T15:18:56Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > Are Southerners **that** passionate about grits? Tongue-in-cheekily, yeah: they’re about as iconic a food as you can get. New York has its pizza, Chicago has its hot dogs, England has its fish and chips, and we’ve got our grits. It’s pretty fun to make them for someone that’s never had them before, someone that likes to mock the South in all ways, and watch their eyes widen as they savor their first mouthful of slow-cooked cheese grits. That’s some fine eating. And there’s all kinds of variants. My favorite, which exists somewhere between grits and polenta, involves slow-cooking them (for like 45 minutes or so, stirring constantly), seasoning them with herbs, chilling them, cutting them into squares, battering and deep-fat-frying them, and serving them with a spicy celery/bell-pepper/onion tomato sauce and boiled shrimp. Ohh, that’s good. > [@Shodan](#): > > I can stand to be out-gunned. But I can’t stand to be out-punned. It’s an old frog joke, and I do love me a good frog joke! Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Try\_As\_I\_Might](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Try\_As\_I\_Might](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try_As_I_Might)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632/66 "2005-06-15T15:51:09Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > Tongue-in-cheekily, yeah: they’re about as iconic a food as you can get. New York has its pizza, Chicago has its hot dogs, England has its fish and chips, and we’ve got our grits. No doubt. ask me about tex-mex or BBQ. > [@](#): > > And there’s all kinds of variants. My favorite, which exists somewhere between grits and polenta, involves slow-cooking them (for like 45 minutes or so, stirring constantly), seasoning them with herbs, chilling them, cutting them into squares, battering and deep-fat-frying them, and serving them with a spicy celery/bell-pepper/onion tomato sauce and boiled shrimp. Ohh, that’s good. oh you fargin bastach. Those sound good. now i’m dying for some shrimp creole. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632/67 "2005-06-15T16:21:53Z")
> [@Try As I Might...](#): > > No doubt. ask me about tex-mex or BBQ. Oh, I love BBQ! I just got this Light-Life tofu BBQ the other day–it’s like shredded soy protein in a savory tomato sauce. Dee-lish! Daniel ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632/68 "2005-06-15T18:16:07Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > \*\*Magiver. \*\* Ahhh, you’re from Ohio. Whattya know from good grits? I’m from Ohio, but moved to Avondale Estates in 1947 (which just may be before you were born). I learned to eat grits at a fish camp right outside the [**Okefenokee Swamp**](http://www.swampgeorgia.com/) which means they were fixed using sulfur water. Today, the grits I purchase come from [**Falls Mill**](http://fallsmill.com/). Unfortunately, most grits come in the instant form. [**Shrimp and Grits**](http://seafood.allrecipes.com/az/LwcntryShrimpndGrits.asp) is very popular in the Charlestown, SC area or as they say “the Lowcountry.” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632/69 "2005-06-16T03:06:40Z")
> [@holmes](#): > > Note: I’ve worked in an eatery and if I wanted to toss any manner of bits into a specific customer’s plate, I could do so quite easily. Y’know, this is just one of those things that I’d rather not think about, thanks. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![GomiBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@GomiBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GomiBoy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632/70 "2005-06-16T13:59:56Z")
First lesson in eating out - don’t piss off either the waiters or the cooks, for ye know not (and want to know not) what they are capable of. I worked as a dishwasher for a short time, and the stuff the cooks did was simply unbelievable. I had to scrub my brain to ever enjoy eating out again. ---
**Author:** ![boofuu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@boofuu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boofuu)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632/71 "2005-06-16T14:51:41Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > Wouldn’t it be all kinds of dumb for a restaurant that didn’t want black customers to serve flies in their food? What if one of the customers just happened to work for the local health department? The restaurant would be fucked while the person from the health department shut them down. And then tipped off the local media. > > Wouldn’t it make more sense to just serve the black customers lousy tasting food? The cook could just add an excessive amount of salt or such to their grits. The health department doesn’t care about if the food taste lousy; they are just concerned about health code violations. And the black customers might not even pick up on the fact this was done for racist reasons. They might just think the food sucked, and eat elsewhere in the future. IIRC, the Waffle House application only requires that you have a 5th grade education. I’m just saying. I had a run-in with Waffle House-style racism. They refused to serve my group and were quite clear in letting us know that it was because it was a mixed group. The cops eating at the restaurant even told us that it might be better if we left. Which was cool cause Waffle House serves porkchops. And that just seems wrong. Grits are a state of mind, not just a food. I can get behind them. But I wil never be in the South long enough to understand the biscuit and sausage thing. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632/72 "2005-06-16T15:50:34Z")
> [@kniz](#): > > Unfortunately, most grits come in the instant form. “No self-respecting Southerner uses _instant_ grits.” ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632/73 "2005-06-18T18:42:15Z")
> [@you with the face](#): > > Grits are a southern thing, not an ethnic one. Although there may be differences in how blacks and whites season grits. Most of the black folks I know like theirs on the salty side, with ample amounts of cheese added. But my boyfriend who is white adds _syrup_ to his. > > That is just wrong on so many levels. Just to amplify on this, I knew a white girl from the South who had the word “grits” tattooed on the inside of her lip. Meanwhile, up here in Boston, nobody, black or white, who isn’t southern, eats grits. I myself have never once had grits in my life. Hell, I coulbn’t even pick grits out of a food police lineup until college when I saw them pictured on the menu at Denny’s. I don’t think we have Waffle Houses in this area either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-these-magic-grits/307632.md?page=3)