Southern Roots: Recipes and Stories from Mama Dip's Daughter

Review Quotes:
Wisdom gathered from Council's multigenerational family kitchen and vignettes describing childhood memories capture the spirit of Chapel Hill's Black community and the social history accompanying desegregation. The result serves triple duty as a tender homage to Council's mother, an appealing portrait of an important American culinary landscape, and an accessible recipe collection that offers plenty of inspiration. It's a delight.--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

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Shares more than 100 Southern recipes that are rooted in an oral-recipe-sharing tradition--Bon Appétit, Best New Cookbooks of Winter 2026

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Serves up a healthy plate of Chapel Hill history and Mama Dip's memories, with a dash of Southern hospitality--Tammy Grubb, The News & Observer

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Council offers a brûléed riff on her late mother's corn casserole, and writes personal essays in a similar register: comforting, with a singed edge. . . . As a food writer, [she] has chops. . . . [Her] memoir passages sit somewhere between idyllic and unflinching.--Lena Geller, INDY Week

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[Council's] cookbook memoir. . .serves up fresh Southern dishes alongside the stories that shaped her as a chef and storyteller. . . . [A] perfect serve.--Rebekah Mann, Chapel Hill Magazine

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Shares recipes that showcase the best of Southern cooking and celebrate[s] the tradition of passing recipes down from one generation to the next.--Style Blueprint

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A Top 10 Cookbook of Spring 2026--Publishers Weekly

A Best Cookbook of Winter 2026 for Cozy Home Cooking--Forbes

A Most Anticipated Book of 2026--Garden & Gun

A Most Anticipated Book of 2026--"Due South," WUNC

For nearly fifty years, Mama Dip's Kitchen wasn't just one of Chapel Hill, North Carolina's most beloved restaurants--it was an institution. In 1976, with just $64 and a lifetime of kitchen wisdom, Mildred "Mama Dip" Council opened the doors to a gathering place that fed the soul as much as the stomach. Her youngest daughter, Anita Spring Council, honed her skills as a chef within its walls, learning the secrets of the Southern kitchen at her mother's side. Now, the inheritor of this incredible legacy steps forward to share her family's story.

In her tenderhearted debut cookbook, Southern Roots, Spring offers more than 100 dishes grounded in the oral recipe-sharing tradition. It's a collection filled with treasured family secrets and vignettes from her experience coming of age as a Black girl in the Jim Crow South, all brought to life with a thoughtful, modern approach to the classics.

The recipes invite you to create a vibrant Southern table, from mouthwatering starters like PIMENTO CHEESE BISCUITS to showstopping main courses like FRIED GREEN TOMATO PARMESAN and SMOTHERED FRIED CHICKEN WITH ANDOUILLE SAUSAGE. You'll find these updated classics alongside sweets like the decadent GOAT CHEESE POUND CAKE that will wow even the most demanding guests.

Beyond the recipes and stunning, colorful photography, Southern Roots is a powerful tribute to a large, loving, and hardworking entrepreneurial family who left an indelible mark on Southern culinary history. Warm, accessible, and bursting with flavor, this rich cookbook introduces a powerful new voice in Southern food and inspires home cooks everywhere to celebrate the enduring joy of a shared meal.

Review Citations:

• Publishers Weekly 02/16/2026 (EAN 9781324111320, Hardcover) - *Starred Review

Contributor Bio:Council, Anita Spring
Anita "Spring" Council is a chef and philanthropist based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She is co-owner, with her siblings, of Mama Dip's Kitchen.