h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

they are the same thing of different types actualy they are also called white grits beacuse they are both corn also they use corn too in Italy basicaly they are the same just different versions so they can be called each other (yes I've done research)

Polenta is made from a finer ground of corn than grits, and is not the same thing as hominy grits which is made by a slightly different process.

Georgia isn't an armpit. Have you been to Arkansas?
Nice to meet you.

polenta is available in different grades or textures. altho the method of removing the hull differs, the end result is often enough the same. americans get a bit uptight about this and will strenuously deny grits is polenta, probably on the basis on a very narrow experience with polenta, which, like grits, can be served a myriad of ways. as porridge, fried, baked etc etc.

i have seen documentaries which trace the use of lye to pre columbian americans. since this increase the biovailability of nutrients in corn, as the entry indicates, one wonders how they came across this. anyone have any clues?

grits are the same way depending infact they are just called each other (i'm not saying they are actualy the same it's marketing)

I didn't come across any information on how they came to wash the kernels in lye, so I don't know if it was scientific advancement or happy accident.

A completely blind guess would be that they were using the lye to wash the corn because of some kind of treatment used during the growing season, like some kind of pesticide or growing agent. I don't know much about the evolution of farming, so this is a completely uneducated guess.

after a quick trip over to wiki i now know the precolumbian process is called Nixtamalization. The suggestion there is that using lye with corn to separate the hull did not catch on in europe after maize was introduced because for european millers this was never a problem.

the reason i asked about this is that indigenous meso americans still use lye even in the making of corn bread, even if the meal is already ground. whether this is for taste (lye would have a sort of salt taste?) or because a connection was made over the years between the practice and better health, perhaps we might never know.

polenta used to be made from other grains such as millet, and even chestnut. when maize came from america it was a cheap and ready substitute for the poor of italy and other places. nixtamalization was not adopted at the same time because of superior european milling.

hence the difference between grits and polenta from a cuisine perspective is minimal. it is also probably more accurate to attribute cultural 'ownership' of grits to indigenous americans and that from there it was adopted both by european americans in the southern united states, and some europeans (italians, croatians etc) via spain and her american colonies. clearly the origin of the dish is the same.