About

Susan Gregg Gilmore

Banana pudding, grits, biscuits and gravy, cole slaw, fried okra, fried tomatoes, fried catfish, cornbread – I grew up eating all these foods. As a little girl raised in Middle Tennessee, I couldn’t imagine a dinner table without these staples of Southern cuisine.

My grandmother and my mama both spent long hours in a tiny kitchen frying chicken over a hot stove. May sound cliche, but it’s true. They grew and picked their own beans, corn, and tomatoes. Often the last chore of the evening was stringing beans or shucking ears of corn.

Fast forward. I’m a mother of three girls of my own, living in Southern California. I send my oldest daughter to the grocery store to pick up some cheddar cheese for the grits I was making for Christmas morning. She came home with a non-fat variety. I looked at my husband said, “Baby, I think it’s time to go home.”

Happily, he agreed and my family moved back to Dixie, back to the traditions, language, culture and food that speaks to my heart. All grown up, I’ve seen enough of the world to know that I’m a Southern girl through and through and a Southern writer and couldn’t be more proud of it.

My two novels — “Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen” and “The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove” — take place in the South. And, unsurprisingly, both feature foodstuffs that I know and love well, from chocolate-covered Dilly Bars to butter-rich pound cake.

It got me to thinking. Southern literature and Southern food are often intertwined in the most delectable ways. I thought it was time to celebrate that fact.

So, allow me to welcome you to The Southern Culinary Book Club.

With the launch of this site, I’m hoping people will come together to share their favorite Southern books and recipes. If they’re connected, all the better. Is there a dish highlighted in a beloved novel? Share it accompanied with your favorite recipe for the dish! Just click on the “Share Recipe & Book Pick” tab at the top of the site to contribute and then I’ll post it up for all to see. It couldn’t be simpler!

I can’t wait for it all to begin. I’m hoping to hear about your favorites from authors that range from Lee Smith, Jill McCorkle and Darnell Arnoult to Elizabeth Spencer, Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor. Now imagine that alongside a table filled with pulled pork, pecan pie, pimento cheese sandwiches, caramel cake and a casserole of spoon bread.

THAT is Southern hospitality!

Best wishes,
Susan