I’m amazed that after 40 years on Earth, and after being to every state in the south…twice!, I have never had grits. What are they like? Do they taste like anything else I may have had?
They are a whole lot like hominy.
When I had them, they kind of reminded me of cream of wheat - only coarser, and with a corn-y kind of flavor (big surprise, since they’re made with corn). Pretty good with some honey or maple syrup.
I’m sure a bona-fide Southerner will happen by before long to elaborate…
That’s why they’re “grits”. But they’re not going to grind your teeth off, or anything. The usual serving around here seems to be with butter.
Grits are an aquired taste my friend. They have (what will seem to you to be) a strange consistency.
I tried “cream of wheat” once. Blech. Nasty stuff.
Grits tend to take the taste of what you mix with them. Try this : salt and pepper and butter - it is very good.
Naturally the, northern members of our country want to make them oatmeal and put syrup and cinnamon and sugar on them.
Yuck.
Try grits with bacon or sausage. Try grits with eggs - runny eggs. Try grits with hashbrowns and ketchup. Try grits with red-eye gravy.
Oh, and one final secret - instant grits (if made carefully) can be as good as “home boiled” grits. If not better. Sad but true.
What are grits? I always assumed that it was just southern slang for food.
My friend, being a southerner, insisted “grits was good eats”. I demurred- knowing they were somewhat like library paste- but not as flavorful. He then cooked some up. They were so loaded down with real bacon bits, sausage bits & cheese- that I had to take his word for it that there were grits under there. They were damn tasty, I admitted. However, i pointed out- that Library paste- with the same “additions”- would likely taste as good if not better. 
NothingMan, I was mostly with you on your post until I read that fateful last part. Alas, I must no longer respect your opinion on Southern food. 'Tis a shame, really since you seem to know some things about grits. However, everyone knows that you just cannot beat “real” grits–especially not with (it pains me to type it) [sub]instant grits.[/sub]
Grits are cornmeal, cooked so they have a consistancy roughly like mashed potatoes. Also known as cornmeal mush.
I’ve never seen the attraction, but after reading how some people doctor them up with bacon and cheese and butter, I suppose they could be made edible.
“tell you a story 'bout a man named Jed; poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed…”
As far as I have ever heard, “grits” are right up there with polenta - ie, cornmeal kinda stuff.
Please tell me that I am wrong and someone give me a recipe for smothered chicken…please…
The only difference between grits and polenta (formerly known as “mush”–if you remember the “Little Rascals” episode where they all become rich and fling their hated bowls of mush at the butler):
Polenta made from cornmeal.
Grits made from hominy.
What is hominy? Corn that’s been soaked in lime water. (That’s calcium carbonate lime, not citrus lime.) The kernels are dried and stored until ground up – an old American Indian process. The word “hominy” is of Algonquian origin.
Waitress: What’ll it be for breakfast:
Diner: I’ll have grits.
Waitress: Hominy, sir?
Diner: Oh, about four or five.
I’m of the butter, salt and pepper school. I love’em; bets the heck out of, say, hash browns to round out breakfast.
Last week I had provolone grits with grilled shrimp, hearts of palm, capers and olives. There’s a lot of possibilities.
That was interesting, but I’ll stick with the traditional if given the choice.
For a full discourse: Tips for traveling in the South.
There is a local cartoonist, Jake Vest, who draws the “That’s Jake” cartoon - outlooks on life from a southern big-hatted, big-truck-with-the-shotgun-in-the-rear-window, down-home kind of way. He has published a collection of cartoons: the cover has “Jake” (with the ubiqitous over-sized cowboy hat) as a server in a diner, waiting on a family of tourists (Florida shirts, Mickey ears) who are looking at their plates in obvious distress and disgust. His comment to them, and the title of the book, is “If You Didn’t Want Grits, How Come You Ordered Breakfast?”. (I found this book after my incident in South Carolina. Must be a southernism used on Yankees.)
[sub]And yes, I have tried grits, and am learning to tolerate them. And I have seen real southerners (5th generation) put sugar on their breakfast grits.[/sub]
electrical insulation.
Or Klingon emergency survival rations.
BLEAGH! 
They made the South so damn cranky, it started the Civil War. :wally
Grits have little to no flavor. It’s what you put on / in them thats important. I personally like to put french toast and bacon in my grits. Alone they are pretty nasty. I believe were popularized by the poor in the south. Grits are cheap and by adding a little something to flavor them you can make a cheap meal. IIRC they were poularized in reconstruction.
I have lived in NC for 30 years and I don’t eat them. I hate the taste. I don’t know many people who do eat them.
I had a professor from England. He said that when he first moved to NC someone asked him if he wanted to try some grits. He said “I’ll try one.” 
[hijack]
In the south, when you go into a breakfast place, most of the breakfast combos come with grits and toast-or-biscuit. And you have to pay a “Yankee Tax” of 50¢ to get hash browns instead of Grits.
[/byejack]
Grits seasoned with butter, salt and pepper with sausage and scrambled eggs on the side: now that’s good eatin’! I fix this for breakfast on the weekends and my son licks the plate clean. He also likes them with butter, brown sugar and a touch of cinnamon.
I agree, though: naked grits are pretty nasty.
Grits mixed with butter and bacon or sausage…mmm-mmmm. My dad likes to put a raw egg in and lets it cook right in the steaming bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. And I agree, instant grits are simply persona non grata, so to speak.
I feel a strong need to set the record straight, even though I don’t actually live in the South.
Grits are not cornmeal.
Nor are they polenta, which of course IS cornmeal. Ishmintingas addressed this but I don’t think he put it strongly enough.
To make grits: You take whole dried corn kernels and soak them in lye overnight. (According to The Joy of Cooking, you can use baking soda instead, but I have never heard of anyone actually using this. I welcome input from Real Southern Dopers, though.)
The next morning, you rinse off the lye (thoroughly) and then you rub the soaked corn kernels with your hands. The softened outside skin of the corn kernel comes off. Then you cook the inside part of the corn kernel for about 3 hours, by boiling, and this is called “hominy”. If you grind this up to the consistency of Cream of Wheat, what you have then is called “grits”.
It is an extremely bland taste, needless to say. Personally, I think it goes better with “salty” as in butter and salt than with “sweet” as in syrup.
Grits are an excellent way to utilize ham that is too salty. Cut up the ham after it’s cooked and mix it into the plain cooked grits.