Cookbook Club

Adrienne Cheatham Cooks Up Her Sunday Best

By: Hannah Lee Leidy

In an excerpt from her debut cookbook Sunday Best, chef Adrienne Cheatham taps family memories to honor the best of Southern cooking.

In the Black community, you typically have a set of clothes that are reserved for church. Your nicest dress, your socks with the fold-over lace on them, a pair of conservative heels. It’s a practice that extends all the way back to the days of slavery. There were laws preventing Black people from congregating in groups of more than two or three. The only time they were really allowed to gather was at the plantation church house on Sundays. So they’d shine up their shoes, dust off their pants, and wear the best of what they had. And this continued through—and in many places, well after—segregation.

Join the Cookbook Club

lock

Members Only Content

This page is for Cookbook Club members only.

If you are a member, please sign in and try again.

If you are not a member, click the button below to sign up.

trending content

More From Cookbook Club