Emily Meggett was a chef who brought Gullah Geechee cuisine to a wide audience with her cookbook, “Gullah Geechee Home Cooking: Recipes from the Matriarch of Edisto Island.”
- Died: April 21, 2023 (Who else died on April 21?)
- Details of death: Died at her home in Edisto Island, South Carolina after a short illness at the age of 90.
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Emily Meggett’s legacy
Meggett lived her whole life on Edisto Island, a small island near Charleston, South Carolina, and a part of the Gullah Geechee corridor along the southeastern coast. Descended from enslaved people, the Gullah Geechee have preserved many facets of African culture, including the creole language they speak, their music and storytelling, and their food traditions. Meggett was one of the chefs integral to carrying on those food traditions, cooking for her family and others on Edisto Island and focusing on the Gullah Geechee staples of rice, seafood, and fresh vegetables. She was employed as a cook by wealthy families, but she also cooked in her own home; neighbors knew that if her kitchen door was open, she had food ready to serve.
Work on the cookbook began many years ago, as Meggett cooked for the family of Becky Smith. Smith encouraged Meggett to publish her recipes; the only hitch was that Meggett cooked by intuition, never measuring an ingredient. Smith began measuring as Meggett cooked, and the recipes were slowly recorded over the years. “Gullah Geechee Home Cooking” was finally published in 2022, the first high-profile cookbook of Gullah Geechee cuisine. It made The New York Times Best Seller list and was nominated for a James Beard Award a few days after Meggett’s death. The book includes Meggett’s recipes, such as okra soup, chicken perloo, fried fish, and stuffed shad, as well as the stories she loved to tell.
Shortly after the publication of her cookbook, Meggett was honored with the President’s Volunteer Service Award. July 22, the day she received the award, was named Emily Meggett Day in Charleston.
Notable quote
“Many Black women paved the way for cooks like me to find a career that could support my family and give me the chance to do something I’m good at.” —from “Gullah Geechee Home Cooking”
Tributes to Emily Meggett
Full obituary: The New York Times
