What is it about cookbooks that mean so much to civilization? All of us have a favorite recipe from our youth that brings us back to those loving moments shared with family and friends and forever imprinted on our minds. Many of us take great pride in our home state’s cookbook because those recipes serve as a reminder of who we were and who we are.
“I have handwritten scratch paper with my aunt’s Calico beans recipe and when I’m sad I pull it of the drawer and turn on the crock pot and follow her exact directions. The smells and textures and secret ingredient she added bring up a cellular memory in me and I feel comforted when eating these beans,” says Denise Lisdahl, who grew up in Wisconsin and associates many of her childhood memories with the food dishes prepared by family.
If you live in Chapel Hill—or have spent any meaningful time in this community—it doesn’t take long to learn about the Council family. Their name is woven into the town’s cultural fabric, and at the center of that story is its beloved matriarch, Mildred Council, affectionately known as Mama Dip.
A true local legend, Mildred was the granddaughter of enslaved people who built an extraordinary legacy through food, determination, and Southern hospitality…