20 WWW.CHARLESTONWOMENPODCAST.COM | WWW.READCW.COM | WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM/CHARLESTONWOMEN The acclaimed Junior League of Charleston’s “Charleston Receipts” cookbook, originally published in 1950, is a collection of recipes, stories and traditions that have defined Lowcountry cuisine for 75 years. In its earlier editions, many of the generations-old recipes were attributed to affluent white women rather than the enslaved people who worked in their kitchens. To honor those who planted, harvested, marketed and cooked for the city’s wealthy residents and to give credit where it was due, local author and historian Margaret Seidler contacted the Junior League’s Executive Director, Amy Jenkins, about rewriting the cookbook’s introduction. Amy, who seconded Seidler’s intention to connect Charleston’s present food culture with its roots, said, “We now hold a deeper understanding of the many contributors to this culinary heritage, and it is in this spirit that we offer a more complete background and context for the heritage represented in ‘Charleston Receipts.’” When the Junior League green-lit the project in 2023, Seidler, along with Dr. Bernard Powers, professor emeritus of history at the College of Charleston and chef instructor Kevin Mitchell, author and co-host of “The Savors of Flavor” on SCETV/PBS, began the revision process. The updated version became available for purchase at local bookstores in summer 2026. In the introduction, the authors wrote, “Africans and their Gullah Geechee descendants had a profound impact on Lowcountry foodways through their knowledge, creativity and labor. It is through their skill and artistry that so many of Charleston’s defining dishes came to be. With this perspective, we now recognize that ‘Charleston Receipts’ is largely a compilation of Gullah Geechee recipes originally produced by African-descended cooks.” The preface continues, “Today, the Junior League of Charleston formally recognizes and honors those cooks – enslaved and free – whose contributions are essential to this legacy. We understand that many of the members credited within these pages learned directly from the Black Carolinians working in their homes and kitchens.” Despite their extensive research, the authors of the new introduction were unable to locate any records that identified the cooks from whom the book’s recipes originated. As Rhonda Mitchell, founder of the Drizzled Pear Catering Co. pointed out, this lack of documentation was largely because most enslaved people were forbidden from learning to read and write. “We didn’t have written recipes because food was a form of oral storytelling and cooking was an innate, inherent nature,” she explained. That these multi-generational recipes and inConnecting Charleston’s culinary landscape BY SARAH ROSE to its roots Step into the kitchens of Charleston and savor the stories that shaped them. Charleston Receipts is a beloved classic, celebrating 75 years of Lowcountry flavor. From She-Crab Soup to Huguenot Torte, these treasured recipes reflect generations of shared tradition, creativity, and community. It celebrates the African-descended Gullah-Geechee cooks, whose creativity and care brought Charleston’s signature dishes to life. Every page invites you to cook, connect, and celebrate the rich heritage that makes Southern food and this cookbook so unforgettable. “Even by today’s standards, Charleston Receipts is a powerhouse. Another reason for [its] remarkable staying power is that it has recipes that people still want to make—because they’re absolutely delicious. No other community cookbook in America has the same breadth and depth.” Southern Living, 2025 “The recipes in [this] 350-page cookbook owe much of their provenance to the Gullah-Geechee cooks. The [Junior] League members . . . used their strong relationships with local cooks to publish many previously unwritten recipes. It’s one of the few historical books of any sort from Charleston that give some slight reverence to the importance of Gullah-Geechee culture to this city’s culture.” Post & Courier, 2025 Serving The Lowcountry For Over 75 Years FOOD & FASHION Chef Kevin Mitchell and his wife Rhonda Mitchell, owner of the Drizzled Pear Catering Co. Photo by MCG Photography
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