Food for Talk is a book club for anyone interested in cooking!
Instructions on how to join this community of home cooks and fellow culinary travelers can be found after the description of this month's cookbook.
Please register with Barbara Shatara at bshatara@burlingtonvt.gov
About this month's cookbook: Gullah Geechee Home Cooking: Recipes from the Matriarch of Edisto Island by Emily Meggett
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 89 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.
Co-sponsored by City Market.
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About Food For Talk Bookclub:
If reading about food, experimenting with new recipes and learning from other cooks sounds fun, then the Food For Talk Cookbook Book Club is for you! Chef Richard Witting has selected some beautifully delectable cookbooks. Signing up is as easy as 1.2.3....
1. To register, contact Programming Librarian, Barbara Shatara, at bshatara@burlingtonvt.gov
2. Ask for a copy of the cookbook at the Library's Main Desk. Or, place a Hold on the cookbook. We will contact you when the book is ready.
3. Read through it, make a dish (though not required) and bring your experiences to the discussion. Barbara will send you meeting information the week of the discussion.