Grits have long been lifted up from the breakfast plates of South Carolina’s fishermen to restaurants and is presently served as appetizer, lunch and in dinner. This evolution in grits and shrimps is reported to catch fire after it was declared as South Carolina’s official food in 1976. The present status of grit and shrimp is more interesting as it is apparently disappearing from gumbo and seafood. Nathalie Dupree’s Shrimp and Grits Cookbook pairs the cornmeal with a different set of ingredients altogether that include mussels, collard greens, bacon, and goat cheese, spinach, saffron, and peach, andouille sausage so on and so forth.
Though the chefs and gourmands with patriotic strings towards their favorite breakfast are rolling out different version of the corn and shrimp combo, yet, most of the traditional diners will not be able to identify the variations with the traditional grits because of the absence of bacon, eggs, tomatoes, molasses, jam, fried fish and of course with shrimps.
However, culinary improvisation with grits has gone a long way to transform the white and tasteless cornmeal delicious with bolder pairings and flavors. Grits and shrimps can prove to be a calorie-free, protein-balanced comfort food for Americans at the backdrop of obesity.
