Filled with the stories, traditions, ingredients, and recipes that define and celebrate the South, Deep Run Roots is the definitive record of modern Southern food through Vivian Howard’s eyes. It weaves the story of her life through twenty-five chapters on the ingredients that make the food of Eastern North Carolina–and all of the South–so special, and shares more than 225 classic and contemporary recipes along the way.

There is a dish in every chapter for cooks of every level of skill and interest. With tradition as the starting point, the recipes grow in complexity from simple things to make on a weeknight to more elaborate dishes served at Vivian’s restaurants. In the summer, when her walk-in is flooded with blueberries, she makes Blueberry BBQ Chicken, Crispy Corn Cakes with Blueberry Corn Salsa, and Buttermilk Blueberry Sherbet. In the winter, when crates of turnips overrun the restaurant, she makes Seared Sea Scallops, Turnip and Butternut Agrodolce, Cider Braised Pork Shank with Roast Turnip Gremolata, and Potlikker Soup and Sweet Potato Cream.

This book is Vivian’s love letter to the South, preserving and reinterpreting the traditional foodways of her home.