Southern Cuisine: shrimp and grits

Wed Aug 13 17:01:32 UTC 2008

On Aug 13, 2008, at 9:38 AM, Ron Butters wrote:

> Arnold Zwicky suggests that New Orleans is the source of the popular
> menu
> item shrimp and grits. I have a different suggestion.
>
> The North Carolina chef, Bill Neal, is credited with having
> popularized
> shrimp and grits in the 1980s...

the two ideas are not necessarily incompatible.

shrimp and grits turns out to be a classic dish of charleston, and the
low country of south carolina in general.  but it has also become a
"hot" dish in new orleans (quite likely by diffusion from south
carolina).  it's in Emeril Lagasse's New New Orleans Cooking, and is a
standard menu item in trendy new-orleans-style restaurants in other
places (along with gumbo, jambalaya, etouffee, etc.).

its spread to n.o. would make a lot of sense, since n.o. is in the
midst of shrimping country.

how it got to central n.c. is another question.

arnold

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