<B>A <I>New York Times</I> bestseller and NPR Best Book of the Year, this is the first major Gullah Geechee cookbook: Emily Meggett, the matriarch of Edisto Island, shares the recipes and the history of an essential American community.</B><BR/><BR/> The history of the Gullah and Geechee people stretches back centuries, when enslaved members of this community were historically isolated from the rest of the South because of their location on the Sea Islands of coastal South Carolina and Georgia. Today, this Lowcountry community represents the most direct living link to the traditional culture, language, and foodways of their West African ancestors.<BR/><BR/><I>Gullah Geechee Home Cooking</I>, written by Emily Meggett, the matriarch of Edisto Island, is <I>the</I> preeminent Gullah cookbook. At 89 years old, and with more than 50 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Meggett is a respected elder in the Gullah community of South Carolina. She has lived on the island all her life, and