C4
EAT, DRINK & EXPLORE
East Oregonian
Saturday, July 6, 2019
Getty Images Photo/Lauri Patterson
A bowl of creamy cheese grits. Food writer Erin Byers Murray hopes that exploring the story of grits will help spur more discussion about how food shapes our culture, as humble ingredients
are elevated into expensive dishes even as we come to terms with long-lost, or ignored, origin stories that deserve recognition.
Saving the story of grits
A dish born of poverty now on fine-dining menus
erty. Grits is the porridge of poor
Southerners.”
Alice Randall, a novelist and
cookbook author who teaches
courses on both soul food and
Southern food at Vanderbilt Uni-
versity in Nashville, Tenn., sees
grits as a food specifically asso-
ciated with the South but not nec-
essarily with a race or even a
gender (although they were most
commonly cooked by women in
earlier history). “Grits are inher-
ing into the archaeology, tech-
nology and agriculture of grits
while researching her book, the
ASHINGTON —
most consistent theme seemed to
Like many food writ-
be that of nostalgia — and com-
fort. Murray’s conversations
ers, Erin Byers Mur-
ray enjoys taking a deep dive into
with cooks, farmers and millers
learning the history and nuances
sparked deep-seated memories.
of specific ingredients. For her
She says: “You can talk about
first book, “Shucked,” Mur-
artisanal producers and the evo-
lution of shrimp and grits in fine
ray chronicled the year that she
spent working on a New England
dining, but when you get down
oyster farm; her second book,
to it, it’s about the memory of
“Grits: A Cultural
someone — maybe
and Culinary Jour-
your mom or your
“THE REAL STORY OF THE BOOK WASN’T JUST THIS DISH, BUT HOW I grandma or your
ney Through The
South,” however,
uncle — standing at
COULD LOOK AT THIS PLACE WHERE I LIVED AND GET TO KNOW ITS
led her on an unex-
a stove and stirring.
pected cultural jour-
It’s the definition of
PEOPLE BETTER SIMPLY BY TALKING ABOUT GRITS.”
ney about the sim-
slow food.”
plest of ingredients:
Erin Byers Murray, author of “Grits: A Cultural and Culinary Journey Through The South”
“I think there
ground corn.
are people who will
“I was used to
wonder why grits are
ently Southern, so they identify
knowing grits only as something
such a big deal,” Willis, the cook-
reviving grits as a food didn’t
“The evidence exists,” says
book author, says, “but grits are
as a taste of the South across cul- Murray, “that corn was being
that came in a box from mass
really match its origins. I was
tures,” she says.
found all over the South at almost
producers,” Murray says. “I didn’t realizing that there was more to
milled in 8700 B.C. in Central
every meal. Even when you go to
Murray theorizes that grits can America. There must have been
really grow up eating them, so it
this than just following the dish
someone’s house when someone
be traced back much further than a dish of ground corn and water
wasn’t necessarily a natural fit as
through history.”
to the kitchens run by African
a topic for me.”
Interest in grits has been
cooked over heat. It’s a food prod- dies, there’s going to be a cheese
uct that’s not just historic — it’s
It was a passing comment
grits casserole on the table. I call
American and white women in
fueled in recent years as farm-
ers have revived heirloom vari-
from Sean Brock, a James Beard
ancient.”
them ‘funeral grits’ because it’s
the antebellum South.
eties of corn branded with evoc-
Award-winning Southern chef,
Randall, of Vanderbilt, likes
pure comfort food.”
“For grits, every major pivot
ative names like Jimmy Red,
that led Murray down the rab-
seeing the rising interest in
Grits, Murray hopes, will
point in the story line involves
bit hole. “I was actually talking
Pencil Cob, Carolina Gourdseed appropriation,” writes Mur-
grits. “The essence of soul food
help spur more discussion about
ray in her book. “It started with
to Sean about vegetables, and
White and Hopi Blue, but it has
is preserving and evolving at the how food shapes our culture,
he happened to float out this
not been lost on Murray and oth- the fateful naming of the bowl
same time,” she says. “What we
as humble ingredients are ele-
ers that a food originally cooked of cracked maize.” It’s said that
vated into expensive dishes even
idea that grits have terroir” —
are seeing in the 21st century
in the kitchens of the impover-
British colonists arriving in Vir-
whereby the local environment
with grits is some distillation of as we come to terms with long-
ished has found its champions
ginia were presented by Indige-
lost, or ignored, origin stories that
in which a food is grown is said
that: what we learn by refining
nous people with steaming bowls
deserve recognition.
in recent decades among white
to impact its flavor — “and I
and processing, as well as what
of this maize, a dish that the colo- we learn by going back to mill-
“The real story of the book
male chefs leading fine-dining
couldn’t stop thinking about that
nists began referring to as “grist,” ing them in the old ways. It’s
wasn’t just this dish,” says Mur-
restaurants.
idea and wondered if it could be
ray, “but how I could look at this
which later morphed into “grits.”
an ongoing study of the evolu-
“The South has always been
true.”
tion and preservation of a food
But as she started sampling
place where I lived and get to
Interviews with Sean Sher-
poor,” says Grits cookbook
man, a member of the Oglala
small-batch artisanal grits from
item.”
know its people better simply by
author Virginia Willis, “and so
Lakota who has been preserv-
Southern millers such as Anson
Even while Murray was delv-
talking about grits.”
our food is a food born of pov-
By KRISTEN HARTKE
Oregon Public Broadcasting
W
Mills, Geechie Boy Mill, Delta
Grind and Original Grit Girl,
Murray began to understand
that this coarsely ground corn
has deep roots in many cultures
that, perhaps, transcend its flavor
characteristics.
“Talking to people about grits
started to open up all these con-
versations about bigger things,”
says Murray. “I had just recently
moved to the South, and it
seemed like the people who were
ing and showcasing Indigenous
cooking through The Sioux Chef
project, and William Thomas,
an African American patholo-
gist who worked with Cherokee
natives Nancy and Tony Plem-
mons on their cookbook “Cher-
okee Cooking: From the Moun-
tains and Gardens to the Table,”
led Murray to wonder how long
grits — or some version of
them — had been cooked for
nourishment.
Airport shortcuts can ease the rush to the gate
By CHRISTOPHER
ELLIOTT
Special to the
Washington Post
WASHINGTON — How
long will it take to get from
your curb to your gate? If
you’re Lonny MacLeod,
the answer is: a lot less time
than you think.
Flying from Orlando,
Florida, to Halifax, Nova
Scotia, on one of the bus-
iest air-travel days of the
year, he took no chances.
MacLeod paid an extra
$200 for Blacklane PASS,
an airport concierge ser-
vice that helps you check
your luggage, finds the fast-
est check-in option, gives
you access to a faster secu-
rity line, then escorts you to
your gate.
“I saved at least half an
hour at the airline check-in
counter and another 30
minutes at my gate,” says
MacLeod, a retired high
school teacher from New
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
A passenger talks on the phone as American Airlines jets sit parked at their gates at Ronald
Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia.
Glasgow, Nova Scotia, who
adds that he was surprised
by the speed.
For summer travelers
headed to the airport, it’s a
question that looms large:
How long will it take to get
to the gate, or from termi-
nal to terminal? A concierge
service such as Blacklane is
just one shortcut for summer
travelers who are worried
about missing their flights.
AirHelp publishes airport
satisfaction scores, which
factor in average transit
times. But the times fluctu-
ate. For example, at Harts-
field-Jackson Atlanta Inter-
national Airport, transit
times are between 35 and 85
minutes, depending on your
destination. Instead of rely-
ing on one source for air-
port transit times, experts
say, you need to factor in
several variables. One is the
airport map, which few trav-
elers bother to review before
departure. Almost every
major airport has a detailed
map on its website.
What about the security
lines? The Transportation
Security Administration’s
mobile app, called MyTSA,
provides wait-time averages
based on the day and time
that you are traveling.
Another app worth con-
sidering: Terminal Buddy
(iOS only), a mobile app
that offers flight status, live
wait times for check-in and
security and terminal maps.
That’s what Fares Khalidi, a
frequent traveler who works
for a travel start-up com-
pany in Boca Raton, Flor-
ida, uses. He says he finds
the wait times are accurate.
“I use Terminal Buddy
because it has the wait times
and the information on the
airport, including food,
lounges and maps, which
I might need in case I find
myself with more time than
I thought,” he says.
Apply for Global Entry:
Global Entry lets you cut
the customs line when you
arrive at U.S. airports and
land borders. It includes
TSA PreCheck, TSA’s trust-
ed-traveler program.
Download the Mobile
Passport app: This free
smartphone app, now in use
at three cruise ports and 25
airports, lets you cut some
customs lines by filling out
your paperwork in advance
online.