For Chris Williams, chef-owner of Roy’s Grille in Irmo, South Carolina, community is key. He grew up in Olar, a rural town on the edge of the Lowcountry, before moving to the Midlands as a kid. The chef celebrates his South Carolina and Gullah Geechee roots at events like Taste of Lake Murray and Columbia Food & Wine Festival, and will compete this fall in the World Food Championships in Indianapolis. We chatted with Williams, a2022 South Carolina Chef Ambassador, about food, culture, and community.
The Local Palate: Tell us about your community and how it influences your food.
Chris Williams: To me, [community] means everything. It’s who you are. It shapes and it moves your being. And that permeates and comes out through the food—whether it be local farmers or produce growers in the community [whose] products I’m using to cook with, or just talking to the elders in the community and getting inspiration about older recipes, older heirloom grains that are harder to find.
The dishes that I cook now have a historical undertone, like my collard greens, my mac and cheese, my green beans. It’s just a part of my upbringing. The cobblers that I do when the holidays come around, the sweet potato pies that I make—a lot of my meals have to do with how I grew up and how I was raised. The barbecue sauces that I make, the barbecue that I do, all of those are reminders of who I am, where I come from, and the people who did it before me…