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Gullah Geechee Home Cooking: Recipes from the Matriarch of Edisto Island
The first major Gullah Geechee cookbook from “the matriarch of Edisto Island,” who provides delicious recipes and the history of an overlooked American community
The history of the Gullah and Geechee people stretches back centuries, when enslaved members of this community were historically isolated from the rest of the South because of their location on the Sea Islands of coastal South Carolina and Georgia. Today, this Lowcountry community represents the most direct living link to the traditional culture, language, and foodways of their West African ancestors.
Gullah Geechee Home Cooking, written by Emily Meggett, the matriarch of Edisto Island, is the preeminent Gullah cookbook. At 87 years old, and with more than 50 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Meggett is a respected elder in the Gullah community of South Carolina. She has lived on the island all her life, and even at her age, still cooks for hundreds of people out of her hallowed home kitchen. Her house is a place of pilgrimage for anyone with an interest in Gullah Geechee food. Meggett’s Gullah food is rich and flavorful, though it is also often lighter and more seasonal than other types of Southern cooking. Heirloom rice, fresh-caught seafood, local game, and vegetables are key to her recipes for regional delicacies like fried oysters, collard greens, and stone-ground grits. This cookbook includes not only delicious and accessible recipes, but also snippets of the Meggett family history on Edisto Island, which stretches back into the 19th century. Rich in both flavor and history, Meggett’s Gullah Geechee Home Cooking is a testament to the syncretism of West African and American cultures that makes her home of Edisto Island so unique.
The history of the Gullah and Geechee people stretches back centuries, when enslaved members of this community were historically isolated from the rest of the South because of their location on the Sea Islands of coastal South Carolina and Georgia. Today, this Lowcountry community represents the most direct living link to the traditional culture, language, and foodways of their West African ancestors.
Gullah Geechee Home Cooking, written by Emily Meggett, the matriarch of Edisto Island, is the preeminent Gullah cookbook. At 87 years old, and with more than 50 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Meggett is a respected elder in the Gullah community of South Carolina. She has lived on the island all her life, and even at her age, still cooks for hundreds of people out of her hallowed home kitchen. Her house is a place of pilgrimage for anyone with an interest in Gullah Geechee food. Meggett’s Gullah food is rich and flavorful, though it is also often lighter and more seasonal than other types of Southern cooking. Heirloom rice, fresh-caught seafood, local game, and vegetables are key to her recipes for regional delicacies like fried oysters, collard greens, and stone-ground grits. This cookbook includes not only delicious and accessible recipes, but also snippets of the Meggett family history on Edisto Island, which stretches back into the 19th century. Rich in both flavor and history, Meggett’s Gullah Geechee Home Cooking is a testament to the syncretism of West African and American cultures that makes her home of Edisto Island so unique.
481 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 26, 2022
210 people are currently reading
762 people want to read
About the author
Emily Meggett
2 books7 followersEmily Meggett was an American Geechee-Gullah community leader, chef, and author.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
May 31, 2022
Truly fabulous recipes and history.
I absolutely love Emily Meggett. I hope sometime I get to meet her. What an incredible woman.
I know. I’m gushing. I’m telling you that I can’t help it.
It’s not often, if ever, that a cookbook renews one’s faith in humanity. This cookbook does. Emily is real, kind, and loves everyone. She has lived a very full and interesting life. Her story and her food are like a cozy blanket making everything a little better and happier.
Emily cooks for more people than I do, but if you need to reduce a recipe, it’s easy math. This book is full of the kind of recipes that your family treasures that originated with a grandparent. This cookbook is a keeper. It will go on my shelf next to Marcella and Julia.
I absolutely love Emily Meggett. I hope sometime I get to meet her. What an incredible woman.
I know. I’m gushing. I’m telling you that I can’t help it.
It’s not often, if ever, that a cookbook renews one’s faith in humanity. This cookbook does. Emily is real, kind, and loves everyone. She has lived a very full and interesting life. Her story and her food are like a cozy blanket making everything a little better and happier.
Emily cooks for more people than I do, but if you need to reduce a recipe, it’s easy math. This book is full of the kind of recipes that your family treasures that originated with a grandparent. This cookbook is a keeper. It will go on my shelf next to Marcella and Julia.
May 11, 2022
Love this cookbook! I bought it just prior to a trip to Kiawah and during our trip we spent a day on Edisto Island. Charming history and commentary - there are dozens of recipes that I will try - so far we've made the red rice and also the garlic shrimp; delicious!
June 23, 2022
As a direct descendant of the Gullah Geechee People of GA and SC. I am always elated to read the authentic recipes of our culture. This cookbook exceeded all of my expectations. The stories are enlightening and the recipes are easy to follow, with pictures bring the recipes to life!!
I would recommend this book to EVERYONE!
I would recommend this book to EVERYONE!
June 13, 2022
See my full review and recipe here - https://storeybookreviews.com/2022/06...
September 28, 2022
Author and home cook Emily Meggett calls her home, Edisto Island, “heaven on Earth”. The island is 42 miles from Charleston, NC. It is home to around 2,000 people who share the Gullah Geechee heritage and culture. Their ancestors were enslaved and forced from West Africa to the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. They have endured generations of hardship and cruelty, yet these people have retained knowledge of their rich agricultural history, their language, and their traditions. I love cookbooks filled with stories and photos that narrate the recipes. I was especially interested in the history of rice cultivation and its use in their culture. “For me cooking wasn’t just a job, it was my life, and it still is today. Cooking is how I take care of people, how I support my community, and how I love others the way God intended.“ This is exactly why I love to cook and learn the food ways that connect people. I can’t wait to make her recipes for crab cakes and red rice.
November 3, 2022
What a beautiful book 🥹 I really appreciate recent efforts to publish a greater variety of Black-authored cookbooks, as Black American cuisine is not a monolith and this book clearly justifies my statement. I live on the coast of the Great Lakes, so I'm not a foreigner to coastlines, but certainly there isn't much food to harvest from the fresh waters of the lakes. What a dream it would be to go out fishing for your meal every morning! The freshness and quality of the seafood with which this author can afford to cook is so enviable, and so significantly micro-regional in scope that this book is truly like a little slice of paradise not found anywhere else in the county. WOWWWWWW. Phenom book, guys!!!
August 30, 2022
I've typically used a cookbook as a tool for meal-planning and preparation. It's functional. I dip into it at various spots to serve my immediate needs.
I read this cookbook front to back, page by page, for reasons that had little to do with meal preparation. I may cook a meal or two from it some day, but I read it for its cultural as well as its culinary significance. Wisely, the book's editors gave equal time to both. The first 40 pages feature captivating color photography, accompanying the author's "Welcome to Edisto Island" and "The American Story of the Gullah Geechee People." Also, a short anecdote, memory or historical note accompanies most recipes and longer ones headline each section. The book is a fascinating glimpse into Gullah Geechee culture as well as a usable guide to the preparation of food within the culture.
I've been interested in Gullah Geechee culture ever since I saw Julie Dash's "Daughters of the Dust," released in the early 1990s. That film and this cookbook, and numerous articles and books from then to now, bring to the fore a reality of wider Black American culture - it's not monolithic. Just as white and Asian folk may claim a distinctive cultural heritage (i.e. Irish, Dutch, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc.) so may Black Americans. The Gullah people of the sea islands along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia are direct descendants of enslaved peoples brought from West Africa to work in the rice fields. Because of their geographic isolation, the Gullah retained beliefs, folkways, and traditions, including food and language traditions, which have survived the years from then to now. Though some of the recipes in this book may be similar to "soul food" recipes throughout the south, for the most part they're not the same. Like all other culturally inflected cooking, they reflect the particular people and the particular place of their origin. Many if not most assume that rice is either a part of the dish, or an accompaniment to it. The vegetables used are ones that can be grown on Edisto Island. The Seafood section is perhaps the most culturally distinctive; the author's signature dish, Stuffed Fish, receives a multi-page spread, though most of the seafood recipes feature the more easily obtained crabs, clams, oysters and shrimp. Other recipes rely on chicken and salt pork.
The book's author, Emily Meggett, is identified on the cover as "the matriarch of Edisto Island." Her life began in the 1930s, a time when Gullah culture interacted only glancingly with the wider mainland culture. Only one plank bridge connected the island to the mainland. People did leave the island to become absorbed in the wider Black American culture, but typically came back only for occasional visits. Those who stayed constituted a tight-knit, self-sufficient agricultural community. This is where Miss Emily learned to cook, providing for her husband and ten children as well as various white families who employed her as a cook over the years.
It's clear that some editorial decisions were made to keep the story line intact. Though Miss Emily refers a few times to the white families she cooked for, the influence of whites for good or ill is absent from the narrative, though interestingly very present in the photographs of Miss Emily with her friends and provisioners. Edisto is no longer an isolated community and was never an all-Black community, as references to plantations imply, but this is a story of Black culture, not a story of racial conflict or even interaction. Also, though a few glancing references are made to church dinners or Miss Emily's grandmother's favorite hymn, religion is a non-factor here. Another very interesting decision was to erase virtually all marks of Gullah dialect. If food is an essential cultural marker, so is language. The author's and editors' decision to focus almost entirely on culture-specific food, while the book is written in standard, rather sophisticated English, is one I could begin to unpack, but I won't.
Oh, and let's not forget, the book has a lot of recipes. Though at bottom they're culturally distinctive, they also show the influence of the wider culture in ways too numerous to count. The section on "Essential Kitchen Items" predictably includes the likes of butter beans, carrots, corn, rice, and salt pork ("my favorite item to cook with"). It also includes its share of manufactured items such as Hellman's mayonnaise, Kitchen Bouquet, and of course Crisco. Cultural purists may rankle at the use of canned ingredients like tomato paste, but remember that Miss Emily was cooking for ten kids and a husband, not for folks who just got off the yacht. Shortcuts are essential. In her defense, she makes her own bread crumbs by drying and toasting old bread slices in the oven, then crumbling them. And by the way, that oven is in a wood stove.
Will I make any of the recipes? I may try a few, especially the seafood recipes. I prefer recipes that begin with olive oil, not butter and Crisco. I understand why Miss Emily's cooking methods evolved as they did; the conditions on Edisto Island favor raising hogs and discourage the growing of olive trees. I can appreciate her art, her history, her industry, and her personality, all of which are on full display here. Finding a usable, relatively healthy recipe or two is a bonus, not a requirement.
I read this cookbook front to back, page by page, for reasons that had little to do with meal preparation. I may cook a meal or two from it some day, but I read it for its cultural as well as its culinary significance. Wisely, the book's editors gave equal time to both. The first 40 pages feature captivating color photography, accompanying the author's "Welcome to Edisto Island" and "The American Story of the Gullah Geechee People." Also, a short anecdote, memory or historical note accompanies most recipes and longer ones headline each section. The book is a fascinating glimpse into Gullah Geechee culture as well as a usable guide to the preparation of food within the culture.
I've been interested in Gullah Geechee culture ever since I saw Julie Dash's "Daughters of the Dust," released in the early 1990s. That film and this cookbook, and numerous articles and books from then to now, bring to the fore a reality of wider Black American culture - it's not monolithic. Just as white and Asian folk may claim a distinctive cultural heritage (i.e. Irish, Dutch, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc.) so may Black Americans. The Gullah people of the sea islands along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia are direct descendants of enslaved peoples brought from West Africa to work in the rice fields. Because of their geographic isolation, the Gullah retained beliefs, folkways, and traditions, including food and language traditions, which have survived the years from then to now. Though some of the recipes in this book may be similar to "soul food" recipes throughout the south, for the most part they're not the same. Like all other culturally inflected cooking, they reflect the particular people and the particular place of their origin. Many if not most assume that rice is either a part of the dish, or an accompaniment to it. The vegetables used are ones that can be grown on Edisto Island. The Seafood section is perhaps the most culturally distinctive; the author's signature dish, Stuffed Fish, receives a multi-page spread, though most of the seafood recipes feature the more easily obtained crabs, clams, oysters and shrimp. Other recipes rely on chicken and salt pork.
The book's author, Emily Meggett, is identified on the cover as "the matriarch of Edisto Island." Her life began in the 1930s, a time when Gullah culture interacted only glancingly with the wider mainland culture. Only one plank bridge connected the island to the mainland. People did leave the island to become absorbed in the wider Black American culture, but typically came back only for occasional visits. Those who stayed constituted a tight-knit, self-sufficient agricultural community. This is where Miss Emily learned to cook, providing for her husband and ten children as well as various white families who employed her as a cook over the years.
It's clear that some editorial decisions were made to keep the story line intact. Though Miss Emily refers a few times to the white families she cooked for, the influence of whites for good or ill is absent from the narrative, though interestingly very present in the photographs of Miss Emily with her friends and provisioners. Edisto is no longer an isolated community and was never an all-Black community, as references to plantations imply, but this is a story of Black culture, not a story of racial conflict or even interaction. Also, though a few glancing references are made to church dinners or Miss Emily's grandmother's favorite hymn, religion is a non-factor here. Another very interesting decision was to erase virtually all marks of Gullah dialect. If food is an essential cultural marker, so is language. The author's and editors' decision to focus almost entirely on culture-specific food, while the book is written in standard, rather sophisticated English, is one I could begin to unpack, but I won't.
Oh, and let's not forget, the book has a lot of recipes. Though at bottom they're culturally distinctive, they also show the influence of the wider culture in ways too numerous to count. The section on "Essential Kitchen Items" predictably includes the likes of butter beans, carrots, corn, rice, and salt pork ("my favorite item to cook with"). It also includes its share of manufactured items such as Hellman's mayonnaise, Kitchen Bouquet, and of course Crisco. Cultural purists may rankle at the use of canned ingredients like tomato paste, but remember that Miss Emily was cooking for ten kids and a husband, not for folks who just got off the yacht. Shortcuts are essential. In her defense, she makes her own bread crumbs by drying and toasting old bread slices in the oven, then crumbling them. And by the way, that oven is in a wood stove.
Will I make any of the recipes? I may try a few, especially the seafood recipes. I prefer recipes that begin with olive oil, not butter and Crisco. I understand why Miss Emily's cooking methods evolved as they did; the conditions on Edisto Island favor raising hogs and discourage the growing of olive trees. I can appreciate her art, her history, her industry, and her personality, all of which are on full display here. Finding a usable, relatively healthy recipe or two is a bonus, not a requirement.
June 28, 2022
My new favorite cookbook!
May 31, 2022
This book is a beautiful love letter to the Gullah Geechee community and Miss Emily Meggett's heritage. It is a perfect mix of story telling about a too frequently overlooked group of people and a methodically designed collection of recipes for cooks and chefs of all skill levels. I tried her friend zucchini and can't wait to try her hush puppies and dirty rice next weekend! I love the photos and warmth that burst off every page.
October 14, 2022
After learning a little bit about Gullah Geechee culture and cuisine from Michael W. Twitty, I was excited to read this cookbook, which promised to be a first hand account of how it's traditionally cooked and the people who cook it. I was very disappointed. On the history side, the stories are generic family history, with a few vague references to the influence from African slaves, which is true for pretty much all of Southern cooking, from rice to barbecue.
The worst part is the recipes themselves. They mostly look like they were lifted straight from a generic mimeographed church cookbook from the 50's or 60's, complete with culinary abominations ranging from gloppy mayonnaise-based carrot salad to pineapple upside down cake. Rather than actual spices, we are advised to use seasoned salt. Even the baked goods rely on self-rising flour rather than baking powder or baking soda as a leavening agent.
While potentially interesting from a historical perspective of how people ate when they didn't have access to anything better, it's borderline to include recipes for things like canned pork & beans or frozen kool-aid. What isn't ok is to take 3 lbs of pristine over-fished fresh crab meat (at $40/lb) and mix it with Wonder bread and jarred mayonnaise. That may have been ok 80 years ago when crabs were cheap and pre-sliced white bread was still a novelty, but has no place in a contemporary kitchen.
Ultimately, this is cooking 100 years after the last African influence faded, divorced from its roots, bastardized and Americanized and lacking any sort of real heritage or integrity. With a couple of exceptions, just about any southern cookbook from the past 40 years will have better versions of almost every recipe in this one. Just because it's old doesn't mean it's good, or authentic, even if cooked on a wood-burning stove in a kitchen with a dirt floor and no running water or electricity.
The worst part is the recipes themselves. They mostly look like they were lifted straight from a generic mimeographed church cookbook from the 50's or 60's, complete with culinary abominations ranging from gloppy mayonnaise-based carrot salad to pineapple upside down cake. Rather than actual spices, we are advised to use seasoned salt. Even the baked goods rely on self-rising flour rather than baking powder or baking soda as a leavening agent.
While potentially interesting from a historical perspective of how people ate when they didn't have access to anything better, it's borderline to include recipes for things like canned pork & beans or frozen kool-aid. What isn't ok is to take 3 lbs of pristine over-fished fresh crab meat (at $40/lb) and mix it with Wonder bread and jarred mayonnaise. That may have been ok 80 years ago when crabs were cheap and pre-sliced white bread was still a novelty, but has no place in a contemporary kitchen.
Ultimately, this is cooking 100 years after the last African influence faded, divorced from its roots, bastardized and Americanized and lacking any sort of real heritage or integrity. With a couple of exceptions, just about any southern cookbook from the past 40 years will have better versions of almost every recipe in this one. Just because it's old doesn't mean it's good, or authentic, even if cooked on a wood-burning stove in a kitchen with a dirt floor and no running water or electricity.
October 13, 2022
Emily Meggett had me at her smile on the cover. Reading her story and the story of the Gullah Geechee people had me even before I got to the recipes. The pictures had me chomping at the bit to get to them, but I wanted to learn more so I read everything that came before them, especially the Welcome to Edisto Island and The American Story of the Gullah Geechee People introductions.
It is familiar, homey feeling while reading this book, even the recipes that were new to me. As someone with southern roots, I recognized many of the dishes, yet so new at the same time. It was just different enough to fascinate me as I tried to imagine the taste differences in things like baked chicken, fried green tomatoes (her’s have significantly less fussiness), and bread pudding. Then there were others like Chicken Perloo, She Crab Soup, and Tomato Casserole that were completely new to me but still somehow felt like home.
Mrs. Emily Meggett has me wanting to spent time with her in the kitchen just absorbing everything she can teach me be it recipes, history, or just life lessons. Spending time with her sipping sweet tea would be an absolute joy. Feasting on her food would be, well I was going to say ‘the icing on the cake’, but with how much I’ve learned about her heritage I kinda want to say ‘the red on the rice’ instead.
It is familiar, homey feeling while reading this book, even the recipes that were new to me. As someone with southern roots, I recognized many of the dishes, yet so new at the same time. It was just different enough to fascinate me as I tried to imagine the taste differences in things like baked chicken, fried green tomatoes (her’s have significantly less fussiness), and bread pudding. Then there were others like Chicken Perloo, She Crab Soup, and Tomato Casserole that were completely new to me but still somehow felt like home.
Mrs. Emily Meggett has me wanting to spent time with her in the kitchen just absorbing everything she can teach me be it recipes, history, or just life lessons. Spending time with her sipping sweet tea would be an absolute joy. Feasting on her food would be, well I was going to say ‘the icing on the cake’, but with how much I’ve learned about her heritage I kinda want to say ‘the red on the rice’ instead.
March 18, 2024
Gullah and Geechee people go back centuries to when enslaved members of the community were historically isolated from the rest of the south because their location were the sea islands of SC and Georgia. This low country community is the direct line to the traditional culture, language, and culinary influence of their West African ancestors.
Emily Meggett cooked without written down recipes but passed them down for generations. Most of the recipes found have been cooked in many southern families today including mine. They are old world southern cooking recipes with regional ingredients and wonder from Edisto Island (South of Charleston). The stories and pictures provide a historical perspective. It includes a great selection of recipes many of which we have been making in the south for generations. Some of the recipes include okra gumbo, red rice, pepper jelly, shrimp and grits with gravy, black eye peas, macaroni and cheese, barbecue ribs and sauce, fried chicken, biscuits, corn bread, benne cookies, and chocolate cream pie and many more.
This is a great addition to my cookbook collection.
Emily Meggett cooked without written down recipes but passed them down for generations. Most of the recipes found have been cooked in many southern families today including mine. They are old world southern cooking recipes with regional ingredients and wonder from Edisto Island (South of Charleston). The stories and pictures provide a historical perspective. It includes a great selection of recipes many of which we have been making in the south for generations. Some of the recipes include okra gumbo, red rice, pepper jelly, shrimp and grits with gravy, black eye peas, macaroni and cheese, barbecue ribs and sauce, fried chicken, biscuits, corn bread, benne cookies, and chocolate cream pie and many more.
This is a great addition to my cookbook collection.
August 5, 2022
This is as much autobiography as cookbook. Emily Meggett’s generosity of spirit and kindness shine through the stories she tells along with the recipes. The chapter on desserts was my favorite. I can only imagine how delicious her pecan pie, lemon pie, banana bread and other desserts would be. She uses self-rising flour in many of her recipes which seems to have fallen out of favor today, but which I remember my mother using. And there are many tips hidden in the recipes. She adds a bit of mace to her crab cakes, which I have not had before and will try (knowing the crab of the West Coast where I live is much different from the crab of the Carolinas). She also admits to eating gannet, a seabird, as a child, but I doubt she has had any recently. And she warns that if you want to use Spanish moss as a garnish on the plate, you should bake it in a 200 degree oven to kill the red bugs that live in the moss. The book is as natural and open-hearted as the lady herself appears to be. I am glad to have had the opportunity to meet her through this book.
May 19, 2023
A sweet tribute to a place and time. For me the back story of the Gullah Geechee community and culture, the first 40-some pages of the book, is the most interesting part of the book. The recipes seem to be solid home cooking, but a lot of the ingredients (Kitchen Bouquet, seasoned salts, Saltine Crackers, self-rising flour) aren't in my pantry. And, I think homemade stock adds a depth of flavor to my food that tap water can't match. But I will try some recipes: okra soup, frogmore stew, okra gumbo, baked cheese grits, bread pudding and benne cookies. I think this book will delight cooks who collect church recipe editions and other hyper-local cookbooks and help visitors to the Lowcountry re-create dishes they've enjoyed there.
June 25, 2022
Some good recipes....others not so much....the stories were very nice. As a gardener and a Southern cook, including many Lowcountry recipes, I was a little disappointed at the same repeated seasonings for most recipes and also at the canned items used when so much is plentiful and much healthier from the garden. A little too much salt for my taste in most recipes, but I remember my mother doing the same way back when. And my grandmother used salt pork in a lot, so that is appropriate to the history, for sure.
May 8, 2023
I was sorry to hear of Miss Emily’s passing, but I bet they are eating good in heaven. I read the whole cookbook, and felt her heart and soul in it, I bet this was a rewarding and difficult undertaking for Miss Emily as she had none of these recipes written down. I wish I could have written to her and told her how this book touched my soul, if any of her family reads this, you were so lucky to have eaten her food and enjoyed her company, I am so sorry for your loss, but what a legacy she left behind. I hope to come close to her wonderful cooking following her directions.
January 16, 2025
I don’t buy many books. Except cookbooks. Been seeing and reading about Emily Meggett for many years and her cookbook has been on my list for awhile. After watching another show about her I mentioned to my husband that this was on my list and he bought it for me for my birthday.
This is much more than a cookbook. Meggett’s stories and history of the Gullah Geechee are preserved by her being convinced to put the oral history into words.
I guess I’ll have to mention the many other cookbooks on my list in casual conversation more often. 😉
This is much more than a cookbook. Meggett’s stories and history of the Gullah Geechee are preserved by her being convinced to put the oral history into words.
I guess I’ll have to mention the many other cookbooks on my list in casual conversation more often. 😉
March 21, 2025
I love to read cookbooks, Foodie Memoirs and books about different cultures. This cookbook gets a five star rating, because it does it all of that. Emily Meggett was a life long resident of Edisto Island, the heart of Gullah Geechee culture. She writes about her life as a member of the Gullah Geechee people, their history, and the bounty of the sea islands where they live. Her recipes are relatively easy and celebrate the age old practice of cooking with the bounty of the earth where you live. Emily Meggett has passed away, but the stories and food of the Matriarch of Edisto Island lives on.
August 15, 2022
Is it possible to be in love with a cookbook? Because I think I’m in love with this cookbook and with Miss Emily. Attention Publishers: THIS IS THE KIND OF CONTENT WE WANT. Forget the snazzy food blogger or the TikToker with all the followers; it is THIS type of cooking and stories that need to be published.
I borrowed this in ebook format from the library and will be purchasing my own, physical copy of it. There are too many recipes I want to try.
I borrowed this in ebook format from the library and will be purchasing my own, physical copy of it. There are too many recipes I want to try.
August 24, 2024
I enjoyed this so much! I had been wanting to read it for a long time, and finally made the plunge when I found a like-new copy at 2nd & Charles's penny-a-page sale.
I grew up in South Carolina, so I was familiar with the basic history of the Gullah culture, but Megget includes quite a bit of history I did not know, and it was super interesting to read! She also discusses how a lot of dishes that we think of quintessential Lowcountry meals actually came from the Gullah & Geechee communities. A lot of southern cooking is shared through families orally, so I am excited to have some recipes for things that my mom doesn't make.
Additionally, something that happened that was so cool: one of the recipes I had earmarked was for chicken perloo, which I had never tried. That week, an event I attended had chicken perloo as one of the catered items, and it was so good!! I got to talk to the owner about the book as well, which was fun.
I grew up in South Carolina, so I was familiar with the basic history of the Gullah culture, but Megget includes quite a bit of history I did not know, and it was super interesting to read! She also discusses how a lot of dishes that we think of quintessential Lowcountry meals actually came from the Gullah & Geechee communities. A lot of southern cooking is shared through families orally, so I am excited to have some recipes for things that my mom doesn't make.
Additionally, something that happened that was so cool: one of the recipes I had earmarked was for chicken perloo, which I had never tried. That week, an event I attended had chicken perloo as one of the catered items, and it was so good!! I got to talk to the owner about the book as well, which was fun.
July 16, 2022
This was an insightful look into Gullab Geechee culture, narrated by one of its culinary icons. It's important for documenting the author's life and cooking.
As a cookbook, it really didn't do much for me. Fairly simplistic recipes; this is indeed old school food. What you'd expect from a decades old church recipe book, perhaps. That said, the dessert chapter was pretty impressive.
As a cookbook, it really didn't do much for me. Fairly simplistic recipes; this is indeed old school food. What you'd expect from a decades old church recipe book, perhaps. That said, the dessert chapter was pretty impressive.
September 21, 2022
The matriarch of Edisto Island shares recipes and history of the Gullah and Geechee people of South Carolina. The stories make it an enlightening history lesson. The recipes are approachable and interesting with most being seasonal and local. While some are classic American recipes others are directly related to the West African ancestors that the Gullah people descended from.
July 30, 2022
I looked forward to reading the recipes that reminded me of my great-grandmother and I intend on making some of the dishes. My only criticism is that there were no page numbers listed for the index or for items listed in the table of contents. This is literally a "thumb-through" cookbook.
August 31, 2022
Delight, hunger, integrity.
One of the best cookbooks I've read.
Ms. Emily is authentic and loyal, sticking with "the old way".
This book is very rich in her history, her family, and her culture.
Sweet Potato Bundt Cake? Are you kidding me?
One of the best cookbooks I've read.
Ms. Emily is authentic and loyal, sticking with "the old way".
This book is very rich in her history, her family, and her culture.
Sweet Potato Bundt Cake? Are you kidding me?
May 21, 2022
4.5-5*
July 6, 2022
Nice southern comfort cookbook!
July 19, 2022
A fun read
July 22, 2022
This book has great recipes, a dash of history, and a writing style that makes you feel right at home. I wish I could sit on a porch or at a table and listen to stories from Emily Meggett all day!
August 16, 2022
this reminded me, i used to cook with salt pork. why did i stop?
September 10, 2022
I'd give it five stars for the stories, but only three for the recipes.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews