The Gullah (aka Gullah Geechee) people, descendants of those brought to America during the Transatlantic Slave Trade from western and southwestern Africa—Sierra Leone, Senegal, and Angola. (Many believe “Gullah” comes from a mispronunciation of Angola.) Prized for farming skills, Gullahs worked coastal plantations from South Carolina and Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida. They farmed lima beans, okra, tomatoes, raised pigs, and used oysters, turtles, shrimp, and rice in their cuisine.

Gullah Geechee cuisine blends African cooking techniques with local ingredients. Fresh shrimp, crab, and fish are favorites, along with rice, okra, and watermelon. This diet wasn’t unique to Gullah Geechee people—many enslaved African women cooked in white homes, spreading African-influenced dishes. These became regional staples, eventually forming what many now consider classic Southern food.