Why I Eat Grits (from the Foodie, a guest blogger)

I’ve been thinking about my dad lately. Before I go to sleep. When I wake up. While I am studying, driving, working. You can say he’s been on my mind.

And so I eat grits.

It started in my food science class during our two-in-one vegetable and fruits/grains and legumes lab. While my lab partner and I conducted an enzymatic browning test on apples and bananas (lemon proved to be the champion in preventing browning btw), our kitchen partners were making couscous, oatmeal, and cornmeal mush. Whereas we couldn’t eat our experiment, partaking in their lab results was an absolute treat.

Corn is pervasive and grown on over 400,000 U.S. farms. It is used as a syrup, alcohol, oil, flour, and starch. 80% of the corn grown in the U.S. is used as animal feed, for domestic and overseas livestock. In the American kitchen, corn is served for breakfast, lunch and dinner and often as a vegetable side dish.

A “vegetable” is a non-scientific term that refers to any non-sweet tasting food derived from a plant. A corn kernel is a caryopsis, the seed and edible portion of a member of the grass family Gramineae. To a botanist, this means corn is a fruit because the seed is the plant’s ripened ovary. To a farmer, corn is a grain, and grains are essentially any seeds from grasses.

So vegetable, fruit or grain? Feel free to search for an answer here:

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen01/gen01975.htm

In the meantime, I will consider corn a fruit when it sweetens my soft drink, a vegetable when I eat it off the cob, and a grain when I have it for cereal. And that means when I eat grits.

Grits are any coarsely ground grain. In America, that grain has traditionally been hominy corn (corn treated with lye). What is commonly found in grocery stores is essentially cornmeal. Other than providing a source of carbohydrates, grits offer very little nutritional value. Generally, the bran and germ of the kernel have been removed, leaving the starchy endosperm. The bran contributes fiber and riboflavin and the germ is a source of B & E vitamins and various minerals, in addition to incomplete protein. The oil rich germ is commonly removed to increase shelf life, as any whole grain product is prone to oxidative rancidity due to its higher fat content.

There are several slow-cooking artisan grits products on the market and some are whole grain, like White Lily. Anson Mills advertises handmade grits from organic heirloom seed corn.

The grits I have at home are Alber’s, a quick-cooking variety of ground hominy that has been degermed. It’s enriched with B vitamins, iron, and niacin, but the product has very little fiber and is only 9% protein.

But oh my, is it good. I use 3 tablespoons to ¾ water and heat it for a few minutes in the microwave. I add a dollop of buttery spread and some brown sugar and stir. I usually have a veggie strip for a dose of protein right before and my grits are practically dessert.

I know the package of steel cut oatmeal immediately to the left of my grits in the cupboard is the healthier breakfast choice, but for now, I am thoroughly enjoying a good old fashioned bowl of cornmeal mush for breakfast and, of course, thinking about my dad, who often enjoyed the same.

“When I walk into my kitchen today, I am not alone. Whether we know it or not, none of us is. We bring fathers and mothers and kitchen tables, and every meal we have ever eaten. Food is never just food. It's also a way of getting at something else: who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be.”

Molly Wizenberg, A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, 2009