Food History of Richmond

Key eras

Trade at the corner of 17th and Main began informally around 1737, with proximity to ships on the James River and the road between Richmond and Williamsburg drawing producers. The market was formally declared a public market in 1779 when the Virginia General Assembly moved to Richmond. The 17th Street Farmers Market remains in continuous Saturday-Sunday operation downtown and is widely cited as one of the oldest in America.

Captain Mallory Todd of Smithfield, Virginia (about 70 miles east of Richmond) recorded the first known commercial export of cured Smithfield ham in 1779. The Virginia General Assembly later codified the Smithfield ham name in a 1926 statute restricting genuine Smithfield hams to those cured, smoked and processed within the town limits. Country-cured Virginia hams became a staple of Richmond's antebellum tables and the Sally Bell's box-lunch standard of the 20th century.

The Jefferson Hotel opened in 1895. Its dining room was later named Lemaire for Etienne Lemaire, who served as Thomas Jefferson's maitre d' at Monticello and the White House. The restaurant carried Virginia fine-dining traditions of country ham, she-crab soup and game cookery into the modern era.

Sarah Cabell Jones and Elizabeth Lee Milton opened Sarah Lee Kitchen in Richmond in 1924, renaming it Sally Bell's to avoid confusion with the national brand. The box-lunch tradition, with deviled eggs, cheese wafers and cupcakes, has continued without interruption for over a hundred years.

Evrim and Evin Dogu opened Sub Rosa Bakery on North 25th Street in Church Hill in 2012, baking naturally-leavened breads with stone-ground flour (originally in a wood-fired oven; replaced with an electric oven after a November 2024 fire). Multiple James Beard semifinalist nominations followed across 2017 to 2020. The Dogus codified Richmond's post-2010 artisan turn alongside Brittanny Anderson's Metzger and David Shannon's L'Opossum.

Immigrant influences

• African American: Edna Lewis (born in Freetown, Virginia, west of Richmond) codified Southern cuisine for the modern era. Richmond's Black-owned soul food legacy continues through Mama J's in Jackson Ward and Leah Branch at The Roosevelt (2026 James Beard semifinalist).
• Italian: Italian families like the Vasaios (Mamma Zu, Edo's Squid, Dinamo) and the operators behind Mary Angela's Pizzeria have anchored Richmond's Italian dining since the mid-twentieth century. Concentrated across the Fan, Carytown and Oregon Hill.
• Jewish: Richmond's Jewish community traces back to Beth Ahabah Synagogue (1789). Perly's deli on Grace continues the city's Jewish food tradition with house-cured pastrami, matzo ball soup and rye bread.
• Greek: Greek immigrant families anchor the Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral and run Joe's Inn in the Fan since 1952. The annual Richmond Greek Festival each May draws thousands to the cathedral grounds.
• Lebanese: Lebanese Maronite Christians built St Anthony Church in Henrico in the 1980s. The Lebanese Food Festival each fall (40-plus years) is one of the largest Middle Eastern cultural events in central Virginia.

Signature innovations

• 1737, trading begins informally at 17th and Main; formal public market declared 1779
• 1779, first known commercial export of Smithfield ham (Virginia statute codifying the name followed in 1926)
• 1895, Jefferson Hotel opens with the Lemaire dining room
• 1924, Sally Bell's Kitchen opens its box-lunch operation
• 2012, Sub Rosa Bakery opens, anchoring the city's artisan turn
• 2026, Leah Branch of The Roosevelt named James Beard Best Chef Mid-Atlantic semifinalist