South
The Grits Belt is an unmarked but undeniable demarcation of American culinary cultures
The United States continues to be a house divided. The so-called Grits Belt lays it bare.
Political borders are well-defined, the line on the map matching the “welcome to” sign on the road.
On the other hand, cultural borders are undefined and unmarked — yet their existence is undeniable. The Grits Belt, largely a phenomenon in the eastern half of the country, is a perfect example.
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It does not appear on a map, AAA guide or smartphone app. Yet it’s as obvious as the delicious joy that comes with eating the creamy ground corn drenched in butter and love.
“The Grits Belt is a real geographic phenomenon,” Matthew Zook, a professor of geography at the University of Kentucky, told Fox News Digital.
Shrimp and Grits, made with Andouille Sausage Tomato Gravy and Crispy Garlic, at Benne On Eagle in Asheville, North Carolina. (Tim Robison for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“But like all cultures, it has porous and diffuse borders.”
The Grits Belt separates an America in which grits are at best a novelty from an America in which grits are gloriously abundant.
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Grits are rare in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest.
But during a drive south, New Yorkers will, without notice, enter the Grits Belt.
They will know only when they pull over at the country café and find grits on the menu with their sunny sides, shrimp or fried chicken.
University of Kentucky professor Matthew Zook, and other scholars, used social media geotags to map the Grits Belt — which they published on the website floatingsheep.org. (Courtesy Matthew Zook/Floatingsheep.org)
Road-trippers from South Carolina, conversely, will at some undetermined point leave the Grits Belt.
They will know only when they look at a menu and find that meals come with some sort of potatoes: home fries with their eggs, French fries with fried fish, mashed potatoes with chicken dinner.
“A relatively small number of coastal localities in the Low Country … have the strongest connection to grits.”
Zook and other scholars mapped the Grits Belt in 2014 on the website floatingsheep.org, by surveying geotagged posts on X (formerly known as Twitter).
“The South in general demonstrates a general preference for grits over the rest of the country,” they wrote.
Beef with grits served on the farm, Conowingo, Maryland. (Edwin Remsberg/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
But, they noted, it “is actually a relatively small number of coastal localities in the Low Country that have the strongest connection to grits through social media.”
The Southeast is the heart of the Grits Belt, said Zook.
But “it shifts as people travel and preferences change.”
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Erin Byers Murray of Nashville, Tennessee is the author of “Grits: A Cultural and Culinary Journey Through the South” and editor-in-chief of The Local Palate, a South Carolina magazine devoted to Southern food culture.
“I don’t know where the line is, but I think it’s pretty firmly in Virginia,” she said, while agreeing that the border of the Grits Belt moves with time, tastes and trends.
Frank Stitt, owner and executive chef of Highlands Bar and Grill in Birmingham, Alabama. He’s one of the high-profile chefs currently devoted to Southern cuisine and to elevating humble grits. (Maranie Staab/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
She is far more certain about the history of grits — and its gritty name.
Corn is native to the Western Hemisphere and its ground, softened form was a staple of the Native American diet.
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European settlers arriving in coastal Virginia in the 1630s, she notes, adopted it from indigenous culinary culture. The texture of the corn porridge was similar to the grist mashed from grains known to Europeans.
The name quickly evolved into grits.
The Breakfast Klub’s catfish and grits with sunny side up eggs and biskit. Photographed on Monday, Aug. 15, 2016, in Houston. (Nick de la Torre/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
“This moment launched the official archive of grits: written accounts, and trackable moments of a now named dish that could be etched into historical records,” Murray writes in her book, “Grits.”
“Through that naming process, grits, the term and the dish, were then permanently tied to what was about to become the southeastern United States.”
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She listed several high-profile chefs devoted to Southern cuisine and to elevating humble grits: Sean Brock in Nashville, Frank Stitt in Birmingham, Alabama, and Dominic Lee in New Orleans, Louisiana.
“These are the folks who are doing grits fancy right now,” said Murray.
For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle.
Dallas, TX
Dallas Fed says ‘older, experienced workers’ likely have less cause for concern about AI job displacement
Artificial intelligence hasn’t yet triggered the broad job losses many feared — at least not for experienced workers.
That’s the takeaway from a new analysis by J. Scott Davis, an assistant vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, who examined employment and wage trends in industries most exposed to artificial intelligence.
Davis argues the data tell a more nuanced story — one that’s challenging the traditional career ladder, and helping older employees earn a bit more.
Since ChatGPT’s debut in late 2022, overall US employment has risen about 2.5%, according to Davis’ analysis, which uses an AI exposure index developed by researchers and published in the Strategic Management Journal. At the same time, employment in the sectors most exposed to AI has slipped by roughly 1%.
Wages tell a different story. The average weekly pay nationwide has climbed 7.5% since fall 2022. And across the most AI-exposed industries, wages have grown faster, up 8.5%.
If AI were simply replacing workers, both employment and wages would likely be falling, Davis wrote.
Instead, Davis points to a divide between “codified” knowledge — the kind learned from textbooks and in university courses — and “tacit” knowledge gained from hands-on work experience.
“Returns on job experience are increasing in AI-exposed occupations,” Davis wrote. “Young workers with primarily codifiable knowledge and limited experience will likely face challenging job markets.”
Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, his analysis found that the occupations most exposed to AI tend to offer larger pay premiums for experienced workers.
In roles with less hands-on experience, AI exposure is associated with weaker wage growth, he wrote.
Workers under 25 in AI-exposed industries have also experienced employment declines, according to Davis’ analysis.
“There appears to be less cause for concern about widespread job displacement for older, experienced workers,” he wrote.
A less dire picture… so far
The findings offer a counterpoint to the more apocalyptic predictions about AI’s impact on the labor market.
Last week, Citrini Research published a memo, written from the hypothetical perspective in 2028, that theorized how AI could crush the US jobs market and trigger a broad-based market collapse.
“What if our AI bullishness continues to be right…and what if that’s actually bearish?” the memo asked.
Top executives inside the AI companies are worried about jobs, too.
Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, the company that runs Claude, warned that AI could eliminate 50% of entry-level office jobs. OpenAI’s head of product, Olivier Godement, said the life sciences, customer service, and computer engineering industries were all about to get automated. And Boris Cherny, the creator of Claude Code, said that he doesn’t believe the job title “software engineer” will exist next year.
For now, at least, the Dallas Fed paints a different picture of today’s jobs market. It points to less mass displacement and market ruptures — and more power for employees who already have their foot in the door.
Miami, FL
Miami Heat-Brooklyn Nets Injury Report, Betting Lines, How to Watch, Lineups & More
Game date, time and location: Tuesday, Mar. 3, 7:30 p.m. EST, Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Sun, YES Network (Brooklyn)
Radio: 104.3 FM (Miami/Ft. Lauderdale), ESPN 106.3 FM, (West Palm Beach), FOX Sports Radio 105.9 FM (Ft. Myers/Naples), 1450 AM (Suart), 97.7 FM (Florida Keys), WAQI 710 AM (Spanish-language broadcast, South Florida), WFAN 101.9 FM/660 AM (Brooklyn)
VITALS: The Miami Heat (32-29) and Brooklyn Nets (15-45) meet for the second of three regular season matchups. Earlier this season, Miami recorded a, 106-95, win in Brooklyn on December 18 and has now won four of the last five overall against the Nets.
It also marks the first of consecutive games against Brooklyn with the teams facing each other again on Thursday. The Heat are 83-61 all-time versus the Nets during the regular season, including 44-26 in home games and 39-35 in road games.
PROJECTED STARTERS
HEAT
G Davion Mitchell
G Tyler Herro
C Bam Adebayo
F Pelle Larsson
F Andrew Wiggins
NETS
G Nolan Traore
G Terance Mann
C Nic Claxton
F Michael Porter Jr.
F Noah Clowney
INJURY REPORT
HEAT
Davion Mitchell: Questionable – Shoulder
Norman Powell: Out – Groin
Nikola Jovic: Out – Back
Trevor Keels: Available – G League
Jahmir Young: Available – G League
Vlad Goldin: Available – G League
Terry Rozier: Out – Not with team
NETS
Nic Claxton: Probable – Thumb
Egor Demin: Out – Foot
QUOTABLE
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra: “Regardless of the scheme is, I always go back to that, it’s just about committing to doing hard things. We were really moving in the zone, taking away airspace and scrambling to challenge shots at the rim. In a lot of these losses in the last month we’ve just been giving up shots at the rim and threes.”
For more Miami Heat information and conversation, check out Off The Floor.
Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at Twitter: @tropicalblanket
Atlanta, GA
Atlanta Braves News: Top 30 Prospects, Starting Pitching Depth, More
On Monday, the Braves were able to earn another Spring Training victory over the Detroit Tigers. It was a game where the starting pitching depth of the Braves was on full display, as Bryce Elder, Joey Wentz, and Owen Murphy all threw multiple innings. While it is likely unwise to expect big things from any of these three arms this season, they are a part of the “next man up” group for the Braves if injury again impacts the rotation. Each had a solid effort today, a trend that will hopefully continue.
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