ATLANTA — Among all the bills lawmakers are trying pass into new laws during this session in Georgia, one in particular is exposing a very controversial question for Southerners: cornbread or biscuits?
Lawmakers are putting the debate to rest with HB 1048, which would make cornbread the official bread of the state of Georgia.
On Friday, the bill cleared the House after getting a rise out of some lawmakers, with Rep. Gregg Kennard, of Lawrenceville, asking, “[It’s] true that cornbread is something special, but wouldn’t you agree that the biscuit is superior?”
Kennard also suggested that gravy should be named the state’s official condiment, the Georgia Recorder reports.
Rep. Jordan Ridley of Woodstock said he was also part of the “anti-cornbread caucus.”
“We’re from the South and we like our buttermilk biscuits,” Ridley said. “Just because somebody likes cornbread doesn’t mean we have to leave everyone else out.”
“My wife loves cornbread, and I love yeast rolls,” he said with a laugh, the Recorder reports. “I have to fight about it at home, so why do I have to fight about it here?”
Despite some descent, lawmakers rose to the occasion and passed the bill in the House 155 to 3.
“With all this in-fighting, it’s nice to be able to agree on something,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Kasey Carpenter, of Dalton, said. “It seemed like we needed a little fun. Everything’s been so polarizing, and I figured cornbread would be something that could bring us all together for the most part.”
The bill will now go to the Senate where lawmakers are hoping it won’t get flattened along the way.