cuisine

“P” is for Punches. Punches have been prominent at South Carolina social gatherings for centuries.

“P” is for Punches. Punches have been prominent at South Carolina social gatherings for centuries.

This week we will be talking with Nathan Spainhour, author of The South Carolina BBQ Project (2025, Good Printed Things). Nathan is a designer and educator whose work explores the relationship between design, place, and cultural narrative.His book began as his MFA thesis in Graphic Design and has since evolved into an ongoing documentation of barbecue’s visual culture – from signage and typography to architecture and everyday ephemera – situated within the broader history of Southern foodways. The South Carolina BBQ Project is a lot of fun. Part history, part design study, and part love letter to the state’s most treasured foodway, the book explores the culture of barbecue across the Palmetto state.

“G” is for Grosvenor, Vertamae (1938-2016). Writer, culinary anthropologist. A woman with varied interests Grosvenor traveled abroad and became interested in the African diaspora and how African foods and recipes travelled and changed as a result of it.

“G” is for Grosvenor, Vertamae (1938-2016). Writer, culinary anthropologist. A woman with varied interests Grosvenor traveled abroad and became interested in the African diaspora and how African foods and recipes travelled and changed as a result of it.

“G” is for grits. Grits is (or are) the coarse-to-fine ground product of a milling process whereby the hull of the dried corn kernel is popped open and the fleshy part is milled into tiny particles.

“G” is for grits. Grits is (or are) the coarse-to-fine ground product of a milling process whereby the hull of the dried corn kernel is popped open and the fleshy part is milled into tiny particles.

“C” is for Chicken bog. While anecdotal evidence exists that the name chicken bog was related to the “boggy” nature of is home, the Pee Dee, culinary historians agree on one thing: that a “bog (unlike a pilau) is any stew that includes wet, soggy rice.”

“D” is for Duke’s mayonnaise. Eugenia Duke mixed her first batch of mayonnaise in her Greenville home sometime in the early twentieth century.

“D” is for Duke’s mayonnaise. Eugenia Duke mixed her first batch of mayonnaise in her Greenville home sometime in the early twentieth century.