A Georgia bill wants to name cornbread as the state bread

There is bipartisanship in Georgia, at least when it comes cornbread. NPR’s Don Gonyea talks with Kasey Carpenter, a GOP lawmaker about his bill naming cornbread as the state bread.

DON GONYEA, HOST:

Great cooks know this – having the right bread can make or break a meal. In Georgia, a great bread debate recently made it to the floor of the General Assembly.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GREGG KENNARD: Isn’t it true that cornbread is something special? But wouldn’t you agree that the biscuit is superior?

KASEY CARPENTER: Clearly, I don’t believe that, or I wouldn’t have dropped this fine legislation, my friend.

GONYEA: That was a Democrat, Representative Gregg Kennard, on Team Biscuit, questioning his Republican colleague Kasey Carpenter, who is Team Cornbread. Carpenter is so much on Team Cornbread that he’s introduced a bill to make it Georgia’s official state bread. He joins us now to explain why. Representative Kasey Carpenter, welcome to the program.

CARPENTER: Thank you so much for having me. I’m a big fan of what you do.

GONYEA: Let’s go back to the beginning. When did your love of cornbread begin?

CARPENTER: Probably in infancy. We grew up eating cornbread and milk, so it’s always been a big part of our family. We’re in the restaurant business, and so we’ve eaten cornbread, you know, at least five times a week for the last 45, 44 years of my life.

GONYEA: What part of the state did you grow up in?

CARPENTER: We’re up in northwest Georgia, Dalton.

GONYEA: I’ve been to Dalton. So make your case for us for cornbread over biscuits as the official state bread. I mean, the biscuit has a pretty impressive pedigree across the South.

CARPENTER: Yeah. As a bigger fella (ph), I’m a big fan of biscuits too. But I just – you know, the heritage of cornbread, going back to the Cherokee Indians in our area and across the state, to me is what makes it special. And there’s a lot of different variations around the state. People put…