CHARLESTON, SC

ISSUE 3: Stockist Preview

 ISSUE 03

CHARLESTON, SC
Charleston is a gem of the American South both old and new,
where on gas-lit cobbled streets locals rediscover and reckon
with the city’s weighty past.

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 Fa r e — C H a r L e S T O N , S C

"I was so obsessed with trying to

understand this food, and I just schooled We live in Charleston,
by those women—they rode my ass." where church steeples and cranes
look over us
and multi-colored houses
house live-in servants,
where fast-rising hotels
rise above slow-moving clouds
that cast floods on the corner
of America Street,

where parades of one color

get one day to celebrate
then hide in the shadows
of gentrification,

where Gullah cuisine

is too expensive
for Gullah people.
in conversation with
the holy City,

sean broCk
where the steady beat of jazz
is the beat of our streets
and the dialect of our past
writes future conversations,

where bridges and bike lanes

break bread with politics,
while progressives preach peace
with uneducated tongues.

the Angel oak tree is young

compared to our vanity,
where $16 burgers
are sold in the middle of a food desert
while every community
wants a piece of the pie.

Grandmothers sit on porches,

watching us change
while the problems of our city
remain the same.

We live
in Charleston.

Words by Ben Mervis

Photography by Frank edwards

64 202

Mrs
septiMa
Clark
the lady Behind the name

Interview by Ben Mervis

Portrait kindly supplied by liam Ricketts

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 P ro j e c t t i t l e

from 1716 to 1718, in a remarkably short but prominent career, the pirate
edward teach, better known as “Blackbeard”, ravaged the Carolina
coastline. Blackbeard’s legend has endured, particularly on account of his
terrifying appearance, meant to strike fear into enemy combatants. in battle
Blackbeard wore braces of pistols as if they were bandoliers, and lit fuses
from underneath his hat; giving him a powerfully devilish appearance.

In 1718, at the height of Blackbeard’s power, and with a full fleet of pirate
ships at his back, he blockaded the port of Charles town, and started
capturing any and all ships that tried to sail past him—several tried, both
incoming and outgoing, and their crew were all taken hostage. one such
prisoner was Samuel Wragg, a local councilman, who was escorted onto
land by two pirates, called Captain richards and mr. marks, and a handful
of unnamed others, to make Blackbeard’s demands known.

Collard Greens
typical seasonings when cooking collards are smoked and salted meats, diced
onions, vinegar, salt, and black pepper, white pepper, or crushed red pepper,

BlacKBeard's
and some cooks add a small amount of sugar.

BlocK ade oF
charles toWn

Blackbeard wasn’t only in search of money—he requested from the
provincial government a chest of gold and silver, but also, and most
significantly, medical supplies that would treat, or at least relieve, the
rampant syphilis onboard his ships. While mr. marks joined Wragg in
placing their demands to the local council, richards and the other pirates
walked through the town’s most public streets to the horrified glances of the
locals. Upon receiving said chest, Mr. Marks struggled to find Richards and
the others, who had allegedly found a pub, and were thoroughly inebriated
upon discovery.
In November of the same year, a British naval fleet would finally catch
up with Blackbeard, and he would die in a battle befitting his legacy,
surrounded on all sides by those he had so expertly resisted.
illustration by Sophy hollington
Since Gullah Cuisine shut its doors in 2012,
Gullah food is best found in home kitchens, but
one prominent Charleston chef, Benjamin “BJ”
dennis, is looking to change that. Joining the
wider renaissance of Southern foods BJ has spent
much of his time discovering and reclaiming
Gullah culture through food, and particularly
long-lost ingredients like the African sesame
(benne) that his ancestors used for thickening
stews or making sweet cookies or candies, the
red hulled rice called “hill rice” brought from
Africa and grown in garden patches by slaves,
and other varieties of heirloom vegetables.
BJ now works to promote Gullah culture and
cooking to younger generations, but also the
wider public, through sold-out popups across
the Charleston area and further afield. The sort
of food he’s served in the past include his take
on a Sea island peanut stew, a dish of smoked
chicken with pepper sauce, an oyster purloo,
and conch and oxtail stew. BJ describes the
development of Gullah cuisine as not only a mix
of the West African influences, but also from the
Caribbean, and from Native Americans as well.
in interacting with BJ it’s clear that he places
others before himself, particularly the elders of
his community. in his own words, “it’s never
about me, it’s about the culture.”
We joined BJ and Charlotte for an early
Saturday morning lunch at Charlotte’s house,
where she made her mother’s Gullah rice
(with chicken, onion, green peppers, carrots,
shrimp, and Andouille sausage), and she and BJ
prepared collard greens with smoked ham, and
a fresh okra and tomato soup washed down with
pineapple tea.

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Fa r e — C H a r L e S T O N , S C

toppings for rice waffles were very much based on class, with
the most well-to-do opting for chocolate shavings. Most common
would have been powdered sugar and grated nutmeg.

In this particular recreation the temptation to serve the waffles

with small mounds of butter was just too great, and rest
assured, at the end of this shoot nothing was left to waste.

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