Cookbooks
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Bress ’n’ Nyam: Gullah Geechee Recipes from a Sixth-Generation Farmer | 2021 | Buy |
Matthew Raiford is a sixth-generation Gullah Geechee farmer from coastal Georgia. His family’s land, Gilliard Farms, dates to 1874, when his great-great-great-grandfather Jupiter Gilliard purchased 476 acres after emancipation. Raiford served ten years in the U.S. Army before graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in 1998. He returned to the family farm in 2011 to preserve his heritage and was named a James Beard Foundation semifinalist for Best Chef Southeast in 2018.
His cookbook, Bress ’n’ Nyam (meaning “bless and eat” in Gullah), was named an Amazon Book of the Year in 2021. It collects over a hundred heirloom recipes from the Gullah Geechee tradition alongside the family history and farming practices behind the food.