Columbia, SC’s Main Street architecture still has much of the charm of a mid-century movie set. There are jewelry stores, restaurants, hotels, and gift shops in buildings that range from the turn of the 20th Century to modern day. Tucked in among the hustle and bustle is Lula Drake Wine Parlor, which eight plus years ago was just another dusty building awaiting renovation. Now it is a gilded lily that comes alive at night like the culinary theater it is. Sommelier Tim Gardner knows his role as the lead actor, greeting guests in a well-tailored sport coat or sliding behind the bar to offer a ta ..read more

Charlotte, NC is one of the fastest growing metropolitan cities in the United States. While the city has always looked forward, it was actually founded before the American Revolution and the site of the first US Mint. But in the past two decades, the intense growth and the addition of a light rail system have brought immense changes citywide. In the middle of it all, the Nguyen family has been feeding its community, one Bahn Mi sandwich at a time. From homemade beginnings to a cornerstone business of the Asian Corner Mall, Le’s Sandwiches and Cafe now has another new chapter of its own. Tuan N ..read more

Rice was South Carolina’s first great agricultural staple. Before the American Revolution, it had already made South Carolina the richest of the 13 original colonies, and Charleston one of the richest cities in the world.  But it did so on the backs of enslaved skilled laborers, most of whom had been kidnapped from the rice growing regions of West Africa. For hundreds of years, they and their descendants built earthworks, tended, cultivated, harvested and processed rice all by hand in remote locations in the subtropical forests and swamps of the Southern US coast. After the Civil War, the ..read more

Shaun Brian Sells started life in a two-person tent surrounded by plantation ruins in the flats of Coral Bay, St. John, US Virgin Islands. It was in that environment where his love for cooking began– by roaming and foraging through the valley, fishing off his dad’s sailboat and cooking for up to eight siblings at a time. Those challenges became the source of his inspiration. At Cudaco on James Island, SC, he brings that inspiration full circle, celebrating sustainable seafood practices and the creativity of the kitchen. Cudaco is part seafood market, part wine shop, part catering, and part cas ..read more

Adrian Lipscombe is a native Texan, a chef, an urban planner, and a civic activist, though she prefers the term catalyst. In 2016, she moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin and opened Uptowne Café, a gathering place and a space for her to explore the synergy behind her Southern upbringing, Midwest ingredients and African American culinary history. In 2020, she founded the 40 Acres Project, which seeks to preserve the legacy of Black agriculture and foodways through the purchase of Black owned land. She’s also a founding member of the Muloma Heritage Center, a non-profit exploring the African Atlantic ..read more

Although Charleston, SC, has changed a lot, it is still one of the cities in the US with a decidedly European feel. Many parts of it are very walkable, there are cobblestone alleyways and al fresco dining, and lingering over a meal is absolutely encouraged. One of the best places to linger this time of year -- or anytime really -- is Malagón Mercado y Tapería. Juan Cassalett is the executive chef and co-owner, and although he grew up in Tennessee and Colombia in South America, his family is originally from Spain. Malagón is a slice of Spain in the Holy City. There’s jamon hanging from the raft ..read more

On a cool, misty morning when the trees were bright green with their first flush of leaves, I rounded a corner on Route 215 in the NC Mountains and arrived at one of Sunburst Trout’s rainbow trout farms. Pristine water flowed continuously into multiple holding ponds, which held different sizes of trout with plenty of room to move around and swim. Here, in this storybook cove, these beautiful fish have grown for generations just downstream from the Pisgah National Forest. Wes Eason is the third generation to raise trout at Sunburst, which was founded by his grandfather in 1948, and the company ..read more

Chef Dave “Smoke” McCluskey, an official member of the Mohawk nation, has spent more than 30 years in the culinary industry, in everything from fine dining kitchens to catering gigs to even organizing and hosting boucheries. Those are traditional gatherings centered around communal hog butchering that also offer a space to celebrate local foodways, and swap knowledge, stories, and seeds. It was at one such gathering that he was gifted some corn, and from that came Corn Mafia, his research, education and micromilling project to explore native foodways. He’s participated in many food festivals t ..read more

Passion for your work can give you energy to do more than you ever dreamed you’d have time for. That’s the case for William Dissen, chef of The Market Place in Asheville, NC, which this year, its 45th in operation, was named a semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation. William began honing his skills through study at the Culinary Institute of America and in various kitchens, including the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, and the beloved but now closed Cypress in Charleston, SC. In addition to another restaurant venture, Billy D’s Fried Chicken, he has a big life ..read more

Jael Skeffington is the co-founder and CEO of French Broad Chocolates in Asheville, NC. What started in 2006 as a chocolate passion and a cafe in Costa Rica with her partner Dan, has grown to 85 employees, a Chocolate Lounge & Boutique in downtown Asheville, and an experiential Chocolate Factory & Cafe. French Broad sources the finest cacao from farmers and producers in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Perú and transforms it into 50 tons of chocolate a year. They sell not only their bean-to-bar and craft chocolates online but also to wholesale partners, and they directly wholesale ..read more