Editing Cornbread (section)

==History==
[[File:Dunkin-Donuts-Corn-Muffin.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Cornbread, prepared as a muffin]]
[[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native people in the Americas]] began using corn ([[maize]]) and ground corn as food thousands of years<ref>Teosinte was known in Rio Balsas (Mexico) valley from 9000 BP and was introduced in what is now the United States by the [[Anasazi]]s circa 1000 AD</ref> before Europeans arrived in the New World.<ref>{{cite web|title=Corn Bread|url=http://www.indians.org/articles/corn-bread.html|publisher=Indians.org|access-date=May 14, 2012}}</ref> First domesticated in Mexico around six thousand years ago, corn was introduced to what is now the United States between three thousand and one thousand years ago.<ref name="Wallach2015">{{cite book |last1=Gilmer |first1=Robert A. |editor1-last=Wallach |editor1-first=Jennifer Jensen |title=Dethroning the Deceitful Pork Chop: Rethinking African American Foodways from Slavery to Obama |year=2015 |publisher=University of Arkansas Press |isbn=978-1-61075-568-9 |pages=19–22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rWuJCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |chapter=Native American Contributions to African American Foodways: Slavery, Colonialism, and Cuisine}}</ref> Native cooks developed a number of recipes based on corn, including cornbread, that were later adopted by European settlers and slaves —especially those who lived in Southern colonies. 

Although Native people in the Americas first cultivated corn, it was introduced in West Africa by European traders shortly after contact through the [[Atlantic slave trade]], and quickly became a major staple in African cooking.<ref name="Wallach2015"/> Cornbread dishes like ''kush'', for example, in [[Senegambia]] and [[Sahel|the Sahel]] represent the transference of cuisine and culture that occurred across the Atlantic Ocean.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Twitty |first=Michael |date=November 20, 2015 |title=A People's History of Cornbread Stuffing |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-peoples-history-of-cornbread-stuffing/ |website=VICE}}</ref> Cornbread has become a cuisine cornerstone within the southeastern United States as well as being featured on the plates of African Americans, European Americans, and Native people alike.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 28, 2016 |title=A Southern Commandment |url=https://pinestrawmag.com/a-southern-commandment/ |access-date=November 4, 2019 |website=PineStraw Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>

In its earliest developments in the American colonies, cornbread was a simple combination of ground cornmeal and water that was then stirred together and baked over an open fire or in a hearth.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Melvin |first=Robby |date=December 9, 2016 |title=The Southern History of Cornbread |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUxGaXWWPpA |website=Southern Living}}</ref> At this point in its history, cornbread's role in Southern cuisine emerged out of necessity. Although farmers in the Northeast and Midwest could grow wheat and rye, the heat and humidity of the South made European wheat wither and turn rancid.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Carissa |date=November 18, 2021 |title=The A-Maize-ing History of Cornbread |url=https://stanforddaily.com/2021/11/18/the-a-maize-ing-history-of-cornbread/ |website=The Stanford Daily}}</ref>