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TOP LEFT: COURTESY KATE BLOHM
FOR PEACHDISH
T HE
STORYTELLER
SHERI CASTLE
CHAPEL HILL, NC
Sheri Castle was born in
North Carolina’s Blue Ridge
Mountains. She wrote her
first recipe—Hawaiian
Tropic Sunset Delight, a
smoothie—at the tender age
of 4. At 13, she broadened
her culinary horizons by
making each dish in the Joy
of Cooking. Since then, she’s
leveraged what she learned
from her family of cooks to
develop recipes for maga-
zines, newspapers, and
restaurants; teach at
culinary schools across the
nation; collaborate on books
with chefs and personali-
ties; and publish her own
title, The New Southern
Garden Cookbook. In the
process, she has revealed
herself to be our best
advocate for the rich history
of Southern home cooking.
A peach grower and author of novels and cookbooks that illustrate and celebrate the
rural South, Dori Sanders carries forward a tradition of farmers who also serve the
region as writers. Her farm, in the family since 1915, has been a source of inspiration
and income. In 1990, Sanders published Clover, the story of a young black South
Carolina girl coming to terms with her white stepmother. Each of her books has been
a gift to the region, a passkey to making connections across differences. Selling peaches
at the family stand and writing books about life in rural South Carolina, she has helped
knit the region together. å
THE PEACH FARMER DORI SANDERS, FILBERT, SC
Join the Southern Foodways Alliance
If you love this region’s dishes and the stories behind
them, consider becoming a member of the Southern
Foodways Alliance (SFA), which celebrates the diverse
food cultures of the changing American South with events,
seminars, films, and an award-winning publication and
podcast called Gravy (the quarterly journal is included
with your membership). They’re also a really nice group
of folks. To join, go to southernfoodways.org.
SOUTHERNLIVING.COM / JULY 20 19
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