1950 (1st Edition)
Author: The Junior League of Charleston South Carolina
Editors: Mary Vereen Huguenin & Anne Montague Stoney
Contributors: Cook Book Committee
The Charleston Receipts was a cookbook originally published in 1950 by the Junior League of Charleston. The cookbook features a diverse collection of recipes, ranging from soups and salads to seafood and meat dishes, desserts, and even pickles and relishes. On one of the book’s first pages, the writers clarify that to honor ancestral wishes, “recipes” will be referred to as “receipts.” The Charleston Receipts is the oldest Junior League cookbook still in print and has helped raise over $1 million for community projects.
This cookbook has many interesting intersections surrounding race and gender as well. Each chapter of the book begins with a Gullah poem, suggesting that many of the receipts were inspired by African-American servants who prepared these dishes for the wealthy families they worked for. I believe these verses are used to “pay tribute” (in a very superficial way) to an oppressed group who have greatly influenced southern cuisine. Whether it be from the various artwork scattered throughout each chapter or the highly gendered word choice embedded in many of the receipts, the Charleston Receipts has a deep significance in understanding southern kitchen culture in the early 1900s.
Written By: Luke Thompson
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