cornbread and buttermilk
Leftover cornbread crumbled in a glass and drowned in buttermilk.
Also called cornbread and milk, crumble-in, bread and milk.
Updated September 21, 2026
cornbread and buttermilk pronunciation
/KORN-bred and BUTT-er-milk/
Meaning
A Southern and Appalachian light supper or bedtime snack. You break dry cornbread into a drinking glass, pour buttermilk over it, and eat it with a spoon. Some folks use sweet milk instead. It is cheap, filling, and how you keep yesterday's pone from going to waste.
How folks use it
- “Daddy sat at the table with a glass of cornbread and buttermilk after the shift.”
- “If supper was light, Granny fixed us cornbread and buttermilk before bed.”
Origin and etymology
Cornbread was everyday bread in the Mountain South. Pouring buttermilk over the leftovers softened stale pone and used the liquid left from churning. Southern Living and Appalachian food writers still call it a classic glass-and-spoon snack, sometimes named crumble-in or bread and milk.
Frequently asked questions
Do you drink it or eat it?
Eat it with a spoon out of a glass. It is not a smoothie.