What classic Southern dish combines shrimp with a ground corn porridge?

The classic Southern dish that combines shrimp with a ground-corn porridge is shrimp and grits. It pairs seasoned shrimp, often cooked with ingredients such as bacon, onions, garlic, or tomatoes, with creamy grits.

Grits are made from coarsely ground dried corn or hominy. Hominy is corn treated with an alkaline solution in a process called nixtamalization; it can then be ground and cooked into grits. This corn-based foodway has deep Native American roots and became a staple of the Southern United States.

Shrimp and grits is especially associated with the South Carolina Lowcountry and Georgia’s Lower Coastal Plain, where coastal shrimp and corn traditions meet. Older regional versions were commonly breakfast foods, while restaurant chefs later helped establish the dish as a lunch or dinner entrée. Polenta is a related Italian corn porridge, but shrimp and polenta is not the canonical name for this Southern dish.