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Grits - Plural Or Singular?

I confess I am a VSC (Very Senior Citizen) and a displaced Yankee. I also admit I am somewhat "set in my ways." However, one of my goals for the new century is to become "unset in my ways." I have vowed to examine my dislikes and try to turn them into likes.

This includes foods I don't particularly like. That includes grits. Now before you tar and feather and ride me on a rail back to Yankee-land, let me explain this dislike. It stems from the first time I was served grits. I didn't order them, of course, and they were totally unexpected when they turned up on my breakfast plate. I stared at them. They looked like a glutinous, grainy, glob of library paste. I took one tentative nibble and decided they were not "tolerable" - an expression I inherited from my opinionated grandfather.

However, in my quest to re-examine my dislikes, I recently tried them again. At one of my frequent suppertime breakfasts at the local Huddle House, I changed my habit pattern. I ordered my usual cheese omelet but I didn't say, "Hold the grits - give me the hash browns." So I got grits, naturally. And this time they looked better - not like an unknown pudding-like substance. I took a large forkful and found them more than "tolerable." They tasted good!

This was a new experience and when I experience anything new I want to know more about it. So I did some grits research. My dog-eared dictionary defined grits as a plural noun, "Sometimes, especially in the South, used as a singular noun." That's a wishy-washy definition if I ever read one. In the October issue of the Smithsonian magazine, I found an author - Tim Warren - who is definitely pro-grits. He writes, "Today, grits can be used both as a singular or plural noun. In other words, 'grits are' and 'grits is' are both acceptable." I admire and trust anyone who writes for the Smithsonian so I buy Warren's definition.

Warren's excellent article contains a large portion of interesting facts about grits. It says that grits have historical significance. The Powhatan Indians of Tidewater Virginia introduced the earliest settlers to a hot and filling porridge made from cracked grains of maize. Corn became firmly entrenched in Southern cookery long before the Civil War. However, it was during the Reconstruction period that corn became the main staple of the South. As Warren expresses it, "It was the economic deprivation during Reconstruction that brought grits to the forefront of Southern cuisine and entrenched them firmly in the belly of Southern culture. They ate corn on the cob, hush puppies, corn bread - and they ate more grits."

One Southern town - St. George, South Carolina - demonstrates its fondness for grits in a big way. Each year, they celebrate a Worlds Grit Festival in April. Thousands of grits-lovers participate in three days of homage to their favorite food. Activities include corn-shelling contests, grits-eating competitions, and a Rolling in the Grits contest in which contestants dive into a kiddy pool filled with grits and have ten seconds to coat themselves with a much grits as possible. The winner is the one with the most pounds of grits on their person. Another grits festival is held at Warwick, Georgia. The Third Annual National Grit Festivals, a three-day bash, starts April 15 this year. It also features a grit-dunking pool plus gospel singing, square dancing, and arts and crafts. Warwick is located on Georgia Highway 300 (the Georgia/Florida Parkway) between Cordele and Albany.

Americans, including Yankees, now devour about 100 million pounds of grits each year. Most of those are instant grits. Many cooks, however, agree that the key to making good grits is to use stone-ground grits. Jane and John Lovett would also agree. They are owners and operators of Falls Mill, a restored 1873 water mill located at Belvidere in south central Tennessee. In my grits research, I surfed the Web with my computer. I keyboarded in "Grits" and found 485 sites! I didn't try to visit them all but I found that Fall Mills has an exceptionally fine Web site with beautiful pictures of the mill. Falls Mill, according to the Web site, is an operating water-powered grain mill and museum. They specialize in stone-ground grits and ship them to all parts of the country. Most orders, according to Jane Lovett, come from transplanted Southerners who are desperate for a taste of home. Falls Mill also has an e-mail address (fallsmill@tnco.net) which I queried for more information. The Lovetts promptly replied with a personal e-mail invitation to come visit. The mill is only 35 miles northeast of Huntsville, Alabama and is open every day but Wednesdays. There is a bed-and-breakfast log cabin and overnight camping is available at Tims Ford State Park about 14 miles away.