How have I gone my whole life

of almost 40 years and not ever eaten grits?
(Okay, so almost 50 years. But still).
I have never eaten grits. Never even thought about eating grits. I’m not a picky eater at all, but it never occurred to me that grits might be good. I have seen grits on breakfast menus in restaurants and wondered why in the world anyone would order grits in a restaurant.

I know now, and the next time I go out for breakfast, I might just order grits instead of hashbrowns.

Justin is taking an international cuisine class this semester, and the unit they are studying now is Soul Food, which is all food that is typically eaten in the southern United States. It’s kind of cool because he has eaten things that he totally would have rolled his eyes and pinched his nose over and said “EWWWWWW!!!!” if *I* had made them. A good example…he came home one day this week and told me in his very dramatic way, “Today, I ate one of THE BEST THINGS I’VE EVVVVEEERRRR EATEN!” When I asked him what, he began describing it to me, and he almost had to pick me up off the floor because I nearly fell out of my chair when he told me it had…get THIS….

Cabbage.

And collard greens.

My picky eater son ate cabbage and collard greens and proclaimed it one of the best things he’s ever eaten.

Cabbage and collard greens! (Is it clear that I am baffled and shocked and kerfluffled by this?)

Now mind you, I’m a pretty darn good cook, and for the most part, my kids really enjoy everything I make and often brag to their friends about things I cook and bake. However, I have never served cabbage and collard greens.

I’ve never eaten collard greens. To be honest, I don’t even know what collard greens really are.

I do like cabbage when it’s made into coleslaw or cooked into vegetable soup. However, I never have cooked and served cabbage to my kids for one simple reason. Tony HATES cabbage. Hates even the smell of cabbage. I will not ever forget the first time I made a big, yummy pot of vegetable soup just a few months after our wedding. It was the first chilly fall day in Omaha, and all afternoon, I couldn’t wait to get home from work and eat the soup I’d put in the crockpot that morning. I got home, made a pan of cornbread, Tony walked in the door and said “OH MY GOD!!! YOU MADE CABBAGE FOR DINNER?????” The word cabbage was said in the most distasteful way he could possibly say a word. He could have just as easily have said “OH MY GOD!!!!! YOU MADE DIRTY SOCKS FOR DINNER????” because that was the attitude that came across loud and very clear.

Obviously,I was unaware that my new husband would rather starve to death than eat cabbage. He’d also rather starve to death than eat tuna, but how I discovered that is another story for another time.

I grew up eating my grandmother’s delicious vegetable soup that was full of tender chunks of steak, carrots, green beans, corn and yes, cabbage.

That was the last time I cooked cabbage to serve to the family. I do sometimes make a pot of veggie soup and put cabbage in it for myself and then put it in small freezer containers that I take to work for lunch, but I make sure all traces of the smell are gone from our house before Tony gets home.

The other day, I could not wait to tell him that now Justin loves cabbage and wants me to make it. The look on his face when I did tell him was priceless. I wish I had captured it on film.

So back to grits…
The day after Justin announced that one of the best foods he’d ever eaten was cabbage and collard greens, he came home and told me that another of the best food he’d ever eaten was grits. He loved that so much that he asked his teacher to email him the recipe, he printed it for me, and told me that I HAD to make it for dinner and soon. I made it last night. I was a little apprehensive about it, so rather than make the full recipe, I cut it in half in case no one liked it and it all ended up going down the garbage disposal. The grits were cheap…but there was quite a bit of cheese mixed in, and I couldn’t stand the thought of throwing away perfectly good cheese.

Well, as Popeye would say, “Blow me down!” Everyone loved the cheesy grits and scraped the pan clean. In fact, they fought over the last spoonful.
Justin told me this morning that he could eat grits every day. I guess I’d better find some new recipes. And suggest that he might want to attend college in Louisiana since apparently Southern Soul Food is now his favorite cuisine. And tell him to find a nice southern girl to marry.