I would not even accuse CB of that felonious custom. I've seen pre-prepped Polenta at the suppermarket, almost inexplicable, but a cup of grits weighs only a couple of ounces, stores on a shelf indefinitiely, and expands to feed four people.

I will admit to coming from a household in which grits were considered a "savory" dish, requiring butter, runny eggs, pan juices, gravy, bits of sidemeat, even cheese, but never served with any sweeteners, while corn meal mush, now rarely encountered, even in the frozen North, always came with eaither sorghum or cane syrup. One assumes that the Bostonnais would have never developed "Indian Puddling" unless they had experienced substantial Southern exposure.