History
Native Americans were using ground corn for cooking long before the European explorers arrived in the New World. Cornbread was first discovered by Europeans during the European exploration of North America. Europeans who had to use the local resources for food fashioned cornmeal into cornbread. Cornbread was popular during the American Civil War because it was very cheap and could be made in many different forms. It could be fashioned into high-rising, fluffy loaves or simply fried for a fast meal.

Types of cornbread
Cornbread is a popular item in soul food enjoyed by many people for its texture and scent. Cornbread can be baked, fried or, rarely, steamed. Steamed cornbreads are mushy, chewier and more akin to cornmeal pudding than what most consider to be traditional cornbread.

Skillet-baked cornbread
The most common variety, skillet-baked cornbread (often simply called skillet bread) is a traditional staple of rural cuisine in the United States, especially in the Southern United States which involves heating bacon drippings, lard or other oil in a heavy, well-seasoned cast iron skillet in an oven, and then pouring a batter made from cornmeal, egg and buttermilk directly into the hot grease. The mixture is returned to the oven to bake into a large, crumbly and sometimes very moist cake with a crunchy crust. This bread will tend to be dense, meant more as an accompaniment than as a bread meant to stand on its own. In addition to the skillet method, such cornbread can also be made in sticks, muffins or loaves. In some parts of the South it is crumbled into a glass of cold buttermilk and eaten with a spoon. In rural areas of Virginia in the mid 20th century it, accompanied by pinto beans or honey, was a common lunch for poor children. It is often served with homemade butter.

Corn pone
Corn pone (sometimes referred to as "Indian pone") is a type of cornbread, made of a thick, malleable dough made of cornmeal or hominy grits, shaped by hand and then baked or fried in butter, margarine, lard or bacon grease. Corn pone has been a staple of Southern U.S. cuisine, and has been discussed by many American writers, including Mark Twain. Typically corn pone is formed in two to three inch oval shapes and features a crunchy and/or chewy texture.

The term "corn pone" is sometimes used as a noun to refer to one who possesses certain rural, unsophisticated peculiarities ("he's a corn pone"), or as an adjective to describe particular rural, folksy or "hick" characteristics (e.g., "corn pone" humor). The term is sometimes intended as a pejorative, often directed at persons from rural areas of the southern and midwestern U.S.

Hot water cornbread
Cooked on a rangetop, one frying method involves pouring a small amount of liquid batter made with boiling water and self-rising cornmeal (cornmeal with soda or some other chemical leavener added) into a skillet of hot oil, and allowing the crust to turn golden and crunchy while the center of the batter cooks into a crumbly, mushy bread. These small (3-4" diameter) fried breads are soft and very rich. Sometimes, to ensure the consistency of the bread, a small amount of wheat flour is added to the batter. This type of cornbread is often known as "hot water" or "scald meal" cornbread and is unique to the American South.

Johnnycakes
Pouring a batter similar to that of skillet-fried cornbread, but slightly thinner, into hot grease atop a griddle or a skillet produces a pancake-like bread called a johnnycake, johnny cakes, jonnycake, ashcake, battercake, hoecake, hoe cake, journey cake, mush bread, Shawnee cake, jonakin or jonikin. The origin of the name is unclear, possibly from 'journey cake' as a bread easily prepared by travellers, or as a corruption of 'Shawnee cake', or based on a forgotten Indian word. This type of cornbread is prevalent in the American Midwest and South.

Hushpuppies
A thicker buttermilk-based batter which includes chopped onions and occasionally beer, and is deep-fried rather than pan-fried, forms the hushpuppy, a common accompaniment to fried fish and other seafood in the South. Huspuppy recipes vary from state to state. In some areas onion seasoning, chopped onions or jalapeños are used. When fried properly the hushpuppy will be moist and yellow or white on the inside and crunchy and medium to dark brown on the outside.

Regional tastes
In the United States, Northern and Southern corn bread are different because they generally use different types of corn meal. Northern cooks tend to use yellow corn meal and Southern aficionados generally prefer white. They also prefer different flavorings of cornbread, with the North having a preference for sweetness and adding sugar or molasses, while saltier tastes prevail in the South, and thus favor the addition of frying the bread with such additions as cracklins. In Vermont, ground nutmeg is often added, and day-old "Johnny cake" is crumbled and served with cold milk similar to cold cereal. In Texas, the Mexican influence has spawned a hearty cornbread made with fresh or creamed corn kernels, jalapeño peppers and topped with shredded cheese.

A typical contemporary northern U.S. cornbread (referred to in the South as "Yankee Cornbread") recipe contains half wheat flour, half cornmeal, milk, eggs, leavening agent, salt, and usually sugar, resulting in a bread that is somewhat lighter and sweeter than its more traditional southern counterpart. In the border states and parts of the Upper South, a cross between the two traditions is known as "light cornbread."

Slang usage
The term "eating the cornbread" is also used in sports talk radio to refer to fans who digest everything that a team's management says and believes it without question. It derives from the time of slavery when the slave masters had cornbread as a staple of the slaves' food because it was cheap to buy and filling to eat. In today's context, the fans are slaves to the team ownership and eat everything the team gives them willingly and hungrily, even if it is a substandard product.