Last weekend in Chicago, the James Beard Foundation did something long overdue — they inducted Daufuskie Island’s own Sallie Ann Robinson into the Cookbook Hall of Fame at the 2026 Media Awards ceremony held at the Art Institute of Chicago.

A sixth-generation Gullah native of Daufuskie Island, Robinson has dedicated her life to preserving and sharing the food, folklore, and dialect of her people. She even appeared as a child in Pat Conroy’s classic memoir The Water Is Wide, as the character Ethel — one of the students whose life Conroy famously changed during his time teaching on the island.

She’s the author of Gullah Home Cooking the Daufuskie Way and Cooking the Gullah Way, Morning, Noon, and Night, and has been featured everywhere from National Geographic and Bon Appétit to the BBC. In 2008, she launched Daufuskie Island Tours, offering visitors a rare, firsthand Gullah Geechee perspective on the island she’s called home her entire life.

Right now, there are plans for Sallie Ann to visit Savannah for a book signing. That will happen at Coastal Table and Tales on Bull Street Downtown. We will let you know when that is scheduled.

For those of us lucky enough to have her as a neighbor, this honor feels exactly right.

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