Spoonbread is too tender to be sliced with a knife, and it looks nothing like a loaf of bread. It is served in a baking dish and portioned out with a spoon. It is a mid-South side dish made with milk or buttermilk and cornmeal, reminiscent of lightweight polenta or a fairly heavy soufflé more than of bread. The center may be nearly as moist as custard, while the top and edges tend toward crisp. It is pretty much a rarity in the twenty-first century South, except in restaurants that make a point of honoring culinary history. Spoonbread goes back to Colonial times and possibly earlier, to a Native American porridge called suppone. It is said that George Washington was its biggest fan.