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I’m not of Gullah Geechee heritage, and it was extremely important to both of us that I could understand and properly articulate her life story within the context of that heritage. She rejected these racist beliefs, and instead carried her knowledge of Gullah Geechee foodways forward, educating a new generation of Gullah Geechee cooks. Emily grew up in a generation that vilified Gullah Geechee culture as being less valuable than white American culture. And in her life and posthumous legacy, she should join the ranks of a vanguard of Black women cooks, including Edna Lewis and Leah Chase, who redefined American cuisine through the lens of Black womanhood and cooking. As a mother, wife, and professional home cook, she personified the legacy of the Gullah Geechee people, a group of African Americans who persevered along the coasts of the Carolinas, Georgia, and upper Florida, integrating African traditions into Southern American foodways. Emily had fed and nourished her South Carolina Lowcountry community through a seemingly endless repertoire of recipes. While I and so many who loved her were heartbroken, I also found myself in awe. Emily (as she was affectionately called by most who knew her) passed away after dealing with a brief illness. It would set the stage for the remainder of our time together - two years that would include a bounty of seafood dishes and days spent chatting on her porch, overlooking her front yard in Edisto Island.

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She’d prepared a full spread, complete with fried shrimp paired with her lauded pink sauce, fried chicken, and various casseroles. It struck me that during my first meeting with Emily Meggett - a meeting in which she was supposed to be vetting me, a first-time cookbook collaborator, to essentially write her remarkable life story and recount her life’s work - her primary concern was making sure I had enough to eat.

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