In the American south, the diet became more Indian than probably in any other part of the country. Wheat grew very poorly there, and the population adopted with great gusto the various forms of corn.

From the Indians, the settlers learned to enjoy the corn on the cob, stewed, in succotash, made into hominy, ground into grits, popped as a snack, and baked into bread. The com-monest form in which it was consumed, however, was fried into thick cakes much like the Mexican tortilla.

This fried cornbread formed the staple of southern food among the poor classes and was called by many names, including hoecake, ash bread, spoon bread, and johnnycake (possibly from Shawnee-cake); sometimes it was called by its Algonquian name, pone. Pone refers to a fried bread made the traditional Indian way without the milk and eggs so often considered necessary to European breads. Only the wealthy plantations had kitchens with ovens to bake the bread in the European style with sour milk or buttermilk. This elite version is what is now commonly called "cornbread."