Grits in Wyoming!

I Found Grits In Wyoming!

What a wonderful discovery this was! While living in Colorado, this Georgia girl thought she was going to starve. The only place in town that served grits was a Denny’s restaurant, and even then they were usually half cooked or soupy, and served in those tiny little bowls, not even enough to taste. Most of the time, the waitress didn’t even know what they were because so few people ever asked for them. While living there, I had learned, (please may my ancestors forgive me), learned to eat instant grits. Not very satisfying, but they made do in a pinch.

At the local restaurants, I was unable to get other southern foods like real cornbread, vegetables like peas or butterbeans, or something as simple as a glass of sweet tea. They had never heard of mustard or collard greens. Their idea of banana puddin’ was a few vanilla wafers stuck down in banana flavored instant pudding with a few slices of banana stirred into it, topped with whipped topping. Their fried chicken tasted funny. They had never heard of boiled peanuts. You couldn’t find fried catfish in a restaurant and you couldn’t go catch any either. Because of the elevation and the temperature, all they had for catching was trout.

The grocery stores were also quite odd, as the regional difference was quite obvious. Self rising flour was hard to find. They didn’t even sell the vegetables I was familiar with, and only once in a while, you might, if you were lucky, find a couple of cans of turnip greens. For link sausage, you could find kielbasa, bratwursts, or something similar to a slightly spiced up hot dog. No smoked sausage could be found, and believe me, I looked. Neither could you find a decent piece of ham. I guess they just didn’t know about a good salt cured ham, so that meant no red-eye gravy. Since they didn‘t have red-eye gravy, I figured that‘s why they didn‘t know about buttermilk biscuits.

I made a trip back to Georgia to visit family and the day before I went back to Colorado, I went to the grocery store armed with a huge ice chest. I brought back field peas, speckled butterbeans, purple hull peas, white acre peas, ham and real link sausage. I even brought back some Dixie Lily self rising flour, some good yellow corn meal, and some real grits. I rationed it all out and it lasted me until I moved back to Georgia a few months later.

For my birthday, my husband suggested we visit his sister in Kansas. I would get to meet her and wouldn‘t be working on my birthday, so it sounded good to me. After our visit, he insisted that since I had never been in Nebraska, that we would return home that way. So, up from Kansas into Nebraska going west. I kept looking and wondering when he was going to turn south into Colorado, and when I mentioned it, it was then he told me of his birthday present for me - a trip to Yellowstone National Park. Needless to say, I was quite surprised. So, west through Nebraska and north into Wyoming where we spent the night.

The next morning, we stopped at a local restaurant in a small town. We have learned that while traveling, usually the local establishments have better food than the chain restaurants. I was almost speechless when I read their menu - they actually had grits on the menu! Of course I was skeptical, but I thought I may as well give’em a try. I ordered 2 egg over medium, grits, and link sausage. Of course, I was expecting something like I would have gotten in Colorado, this being the west and all.

What a surprise when they brought out my plate! A big bowl of grits, cooked just right and topped with butter, the eggs, and a real piece of link sausage! The waitress and the other customers must have thought I had been on starvation! It was fantastic! It was the best breakfast I had eaten since being back home. What I wondered was how in the world did this kind of southern food wind up in Wyoming? And why hadn’t it found it’s way to Colorado? Yep, I found had real grits in Wyoming! Who’d have thought? By the way, the best breakfast my husband had on the trip was a big plate of real sausage gravy and biscuits…..in Idaho!