Gullah Geechee Cooking: Savannah’s Gina Capers -Willis Keeps Family Traditions Alive
Gina Capers-Willis calls herself a Geechee Girl. Her roots come from Daufuskie Island, South Carolina and the Gullah islands off the Georgia coast. But she grew up in Savannah at a time when she says Gullah Geechee culture wasn’t always appreciated.
“Our patois language was frowned upon and thought of as broken English. But the Gullah Geechee people were living on islands isolated from the mainland, so they kept more of their African language and heritage,” she explains. “Now people are embracing the culture, but I want them to embrace it for the right reasons and to carry the traditions on authentically,” she emphasizes.
And that’s become her passion and purpose. “My mother taught culinary arts and was a home economics teacher and my father was in hospitality,” she notes. “I started off baking because my mother was known as ‘The Red Velvet Cake Lady.’ She made a mean red velvet cake.”
But when her mother stopped making them, one of her mother’s former home economics students asked Capers-Willis if she would. She did it begrudgingly, but the next day, the friend brought her five more orders.
“Then I started cooking meals for my boyfriend and taking pictures and putting them online, and everybody started asking, ‘What’s Gina cooking today?’ And that’s how I got my handle.”
Culture of Gullah Geechee Cuisine
“Gullah Geechee cuisine is food from the land—a lot of okra, a lot of rice, a lot of seafood,” states Capers-Willis. “Savannah was one of the largest sites for slave auctions, and a lot of those Africans brought seeds with them,” she explains.
“We have something we call Savannah red rice, which is similar to jollof rice in Africa. So there were a lot of rice farms in the Gullah Geechee sea islands.” She adds that Gullah Geechee cooking is also basic, without a lot of extra ingredients.
“My mom used to make the best fried chicken with just salt and pepper. We should be purest about some of our traditional recipes,” she says with passion.
Years ago, her grandparents had a club/restaurant on Wilmington Island, Georgia, where her grandmother was known for her deviled crab. “I love making that dish and making gumbo,” says the chef. “Ours is reddish brown, not chocolate brown like New Orleans because we put tomatoes and tomato paste in it,” she explains. “I also like making sweet potato pone, marsh hens over rice and crab pie. I call mine seafood pie because I add shrimp,” she confides.
By Kalin Thomas