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Do you have what it takes?

If you happen to be anywhere near Georgia this Saturday and have a hankering for grits -- consider a drive to Warwick. The town -- approximately 82 miles south of Macon -- holds its 12th annual National Grits Festival on April 11, complete with a cook-off, a Miss Grits pageant and the Grits Pit -- a creamy tub designed to get grits lovers, well, gritty (see photo above).

"That's a big attraction at 2 o'clock in the afternoon now," festival coordinator Bob Holland told Slashfood.

Warwick hosts this ode to the Southern larder despite the fact that it doesn't produce grits, though it does have a lot of corn growing amid the cotton and peanuts on nearby farmland, Holland said.

"You can do anything with grits," Holland said. "It depends on your taste and your imagination."

More gritty talk and the late great Bill Neal's recipe for shrimp and grits that turned me into a grits fan after the jump.