Business & Tech

Chef Honors Heritage with Food

Chef Valerie Erwin looks to the past for inspiration in her kitchen at GeeChee Girl Rice Cafe in Mt. Airy.

Valerie Erwin chose the name GeeChee Girl for her restaurant in Mt. Airy to pay tribute to her heritage.

“The GeeChee were the descendants of slaves on island where they grew rice in South Carolina and Gerogia,” Erwin said.  “My food pays tribute to the food from that area.”

Both of Erwin’s parents were from the costal regions of the south, with her mother from Charleston, S.C., and her father from Savannah, Ga.

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"I would say a lot of my food is southern based," Erwin said.  "But there's a lot of influence from the African Diaspora in my cooking.  So, there's some Caribbean and some African influences as well." 

“I’m big on using local sustainable products,” Erwin said. 

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“People always ask me what I put in my grits,” Erwin said.  “There’s nothing in them but salt and water, but because I get them at an organic mill in South Carolina they taste that much better.”

Erwin added, “It’s just a much better product.”

Erwin also said that her primary interest when it comes to cooking is in “home cooking.”

“I’ve worked in restaurants a long time,” Erwin said.  “It’s not that I can’t do fancier cooking; it’s that I prefer not to.”

GeeChee Girl just had its 10th anniversary, and Erwin said she couldn’t have done it with out her customers.

“They’re very loyal,” Erwin said.  “I have just the most wonderful customers.”

GeeChee Girl Rice Café will be featured on the Food Network show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” on Monday, July 1, at 10 p.m.

Click here to read more about the experience of taping that show.


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