Bobby Powell enjoys Southern cuisine such as shrimp and grits. Shrimp and grits originated with the Native American Muskogee tribe, who introduced their corn meal to European settlers. Enslaved Africans brought by plantation owners to work in coastal marshlands would catch shrimp and fish to mix into their corn meal. The dish became popular in the 1980s when a chef featured it on a restaurant menu and it was publicized in The New York Times. Shrimp and grits is now served nationwide but was once a little-known regional specialty.

1. Bobby Powell, Greenville SC

2. Introduction
 Bobby Powell began his professional career as a project coordinator at Central
Community Ministries in Greenville, SC. Currently employed as the music education
coordinator at Musical Innovations in Greenville, SC, Bobby Powell enjoys several
varieties of food, including Southern cuisine.
Shrimp and grits is one of the quintessential Southern dishes. Once known as shrimp
and hominy, the origins of the meal can be traced back to the Native American tribe
called the Muskogee, whose preparation of corn was very similar to hominy.
The Muskogee introduced their corn meal to European settlers, using it as a form of
currency. The plantation owners then fed it to the Gullah slaves brought in from West
Africa to work the coastal marshland. In their spare time, the slaves caught the shrimp
and fish nearby and mixed them into their grits.
However, the dish didn’t become well-known until 1982, when a chef named Bill Neal put
a shrimp and grits plate on the menu of Crook’s Corner restaurant in Chapel Hill, North
Carolina. New York Times reporter Craig Claiborne tried the dish and published the
recipe in 1985.
Now served in Southern-style restaurants across the nation, this once obscure regional
dish has become a culinary icon.