Cookbook author Emily Meggett was not a household name in SC, but she should have been

A Sunday morning national news program has a weekly segment titled “Lives Well Lived” to honor the lives of recently deceased people who have used wisdom and compassion to make meaningful contributions to society. South Carolina lost one such person last month, a lady whose life was redolent with creativity, compassion and love for her native Edisto Island.

Emily Meggett was not necessarily a household name in our state, but she should have been. And although she received national praise and attention last year for the publication of her cookbook, “Gullah Geechee Home Cooking: Recipes From the Matriarch of Edisto Island,” she remained what she had always been — a lady who loved the place where she was born and where she spent her entire life, the place she and her husband raised 10 children.

“Ms. Emily,” as everyone called her, died at the age of 90 in April.

In a day in which we spend too much time fascinated about infamous and scandalous citizens of our state, it’s refreshing to take a breather and recognize a lady like Ms. Emily.

For the past year, her culinary skills and her philosophy of life have made her a revered figure, ever since the cookbook she wrote appeared on The New York Times bestseller list and was nominated just last week for a 2023 James Beard cookbook award, an honor that came only a few days after Ms. Emily’s death.

Called by the Times, “the first high-profile cookbook centered on the food of the descendants of the enslaved people of the coastal South,” the book’s 123 recipes were ones Ms. Emily made for her husband and children, her large church family, and for families for whom Ms. Emily had worked as a cook over the years. It was one of these families who encouraged her to write the cookbook and helped her put it together.

She never used a recipe herself, never measured her ingredients, and created her dishes based on what had been handed down in her family for many generations.

According to those who knew her well, Ms. Emily spent much of her life giving to people on Edisto Island who needed her help. Long before her success as a cookbook author, she spent nearly 70 years gaining the reputation of someone who gave what she could to people who needed help, especially those who needed food to eat. She often drove around Edisto Island with a pot of food in her car, seeking people who needed a meal, and as she once said, “asking God to lead her to especially needy people.”

Her cookbook fame publicized the fact that everyone who knew Ms. Emily understood that, if her kitchen door was open, anyone could stop by for food. Evidently, this inspired several of her cookbook fans to travel across the country to see if her kitchen door was open, not to eat her food but to thank her for her amazing recipes.

I was one of those folks who wanted to just drop by and say hello and thank her for the best deviled crab recipe on the planet, as well as marvel at her life of helping others.

When a friend and I arrived at her house, the kitchen door was closed, so we turned to leave. One of Ms. Emily’s daughters appeared at the door to tell us that her mother was not at home, and I asked if I could leave a note for her.

My note didn’t say all I wanted to say, but I was happy to have left it for her. I just wanted to thank this lady who loved the land, who loved her heritage, who offered help to others as part of her everyday life, and who gave the world a glimpse of our state that is inspiring.

Hers was indeed a life well lived.