Pass the salt

grits
plural noun (used with a sing. or pl. verb)
1. A ground, usually white meal of dried and hulled corn kernels that is boiled and served as a breakfast food or side dish.
2. Coarsely ground grain, especially corn.
[Alteration of Middle English grutta, coarse meal, from Old English grytta, pl. of grytt.]
"grits." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers.com 06 Feb. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/grits

There are two schools of thought on grits. One is to treat them like a sweet, adding milk and/or sugar, and/or maple syrup. The other school holds to treat them like a potato, adding butter, salt, maybe even crumbled bacon and cheese.

I fall firmly into the second school. If I want a dainty, sweetened cereal, I'll have oatmeal. Grits are meant to

stick to the ribs
idiom
Be substantial or filling.
[This idiom was first recorded in 1603.]
"stick to the ribs." The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. Answers.com 06 Feb. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/stick-to-the-ribs

But I don't care for shrimp polluting my grits.