Published in the Post and Courier, December 25, 2022
Project studies and promotes seeds from which sprouted Lowcountry cuisine
by Adam Parker
A few years ago, Robert Bellinger noted how Lowcountry cuisine had gained in popularity, even in places far from South Carolina, and how, increasingly, credit was being given where credit was due.
So much of the cooking done in the Southeast relies on Black traditions.
“There’s a bit more to the story,” said Bellinger, a retired professor of history and African American studies who lives in Lexington, Mass. He traces his ancestry to James C. and Sabina Middleton, his great-great-great grandparents who were enslaved on one of the Middleton plantations, possibly the main one along the Ashley River, today a historical site.
“Some of the significant crops were grown from African seeds, by African people, in North America for the first time,” he said. “So these enslaved Africans were the progenitors of many significant crops that became the basis not only for Lowcountry cuisine, but American cuisine.”
He’s not exaggerating.
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