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What’s Behind the Grits Culture Wars

Brooklyn White
ZORA
Published in
7 min readNov 7, 2019

Illustration: Stefanie Wong

CChance the Rapper closed out a September 2019 episode of Ellen with a performance of “Eternal,” a track from his debut studio album, The Big Day. A one-second-long clip of the performance went viral on Twitter, after viewers realized that he had not only said the N-word, but proceeded it with a resounding, “Grits!” After thousands of retweets, the snippet started a mass conversation about grits and rekindled the age-old argument about the “correct” way to eat them.

Grits are a staple in the Black community, and in addition to a shout out on “Eternal,” they have been included in a number of songs and popular culture moments. They have rich roots as well, due to the meal’s simplicity and place within Black American history over the past few hundred years. No matter how you dress them, grits are quite literally a part of the fabric of America.

Cynthia Greenlee, editor of Southern Foodways, shared with me that “Grits, and its variations, are centuries-old” and American interpretations are a mixture of native, African American, and White southern versions of the dish. “Growing up in the Deep South, I had grits more times than I can remember. I’ll never forget…

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ZORA
ZORA

Published in ZORA

A publication from Medium that centers the stories, poetry, essays and thoughts of women of color.

Responses (11)

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There are variations of grits — instant and yellow or white stone-ground, the use of which conjure up thoughts about family units and the role capitalism plays in eating.

I’m from the Bahamas. The only way to eat grits is stone ground and yellow made with salt and butter. Anything made with sugar is cornmeal porridge and not called grits. With cornmeal, it’s milled fine like what’s used for cornbread. This was a stunning piece on a staple in black food culture.

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I have memories as a child In Memphis of sneaking and putting sugar on my grits, following the example of my “damnYankee”, one word, grandfather who was born in Indiana. I was told that only Northerners would ruin their grits with sugar; that made…

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We grew up on grits. In my case, it was a dish from my mother’s roots in Kentucky. Daddy, a Midwesterner, didn’t care for them. They were as common in our household as oatmeal is to many others. I love grits, a sort of comfort food. It wasn’t until…

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