Food History of Savannah

Key eras

1733, James Oglethorpe founds Savannah

James Oglethorpe established Savannah as Georgia's first city in February 1733, laying out the 22-square grid that still defines the historic district. The original colonial diet drew on local game, oysters from the Skidaway oyster beds and Sea Island peas grown by Yamacraw natives.

1740s-1865, the rice and cotton plantation era

Carolina Gold rice and Sea Island cotton built Savannah's wealth in the 18th and 19th centuries, with enslaved West Africans bringing rice cultivation technique from the Senegambia Rice Coast. By 1860 Savannah was the world's largest cotton port and the second-largest slave-trade entry point in North America after Charleston.

1865-1920, Gullah Geechee creole cuisine takes shape

After Emancipation, the Gullah Geechee communities on the coastal islands south of Savannah (Pin Point, Sapelo, St. Catherines, Ossabaw) kept rice cultivation alive for personal use and built the canonical Lowcountry repertoire: shrimp and grits, okra soup, red rice, hoppin' John, perlou and crab rice.

1919, Leopold's Ice Cream opens

Greek-immigrant brothers George and Peter Leopold opened Leopold's at Gwinnett and Habersham in 1919; their younger brother Basil joined later. The shop closed in 1969 and reopened on Broughton in 2004 under Stratton Leopold; it remains the city's reference ice-cream parlour.

1933, Crystal Beer Parlor opens after Prohibition

Crystal Beer Parlor opened in the Gerken Family Grocery Store building at Jones and Jefferson in 1933, becoming one of the first American eating establishments to serve alcohol after the repeal of Prohibition. It remains the city's reference historic pub.

1943, Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room

Sema Wilkes began serving Southern home cooking from a basement boarding house on West Jones Street in 1943, with ten-person communal tables and an all-you-can-eat lunch format. The room has run continuously ever since and remains the city's reference soul-food lunch.

1980s-1990s, Elizabeth Terry and the Lowcountry revival

Elizabeth Terry opened Elizabeth on 37th in a Victorian mansion in 1981, building a classical-Lowcountry menu around Carolina Gold rice, local shrimp and Sea Island peas. Terry won James Beard Best Chef Southeast in 1995; the room cemented Savannah's national food reputation.

2014, The Grey opens

Mashama Bailey and John O. Morisano opened The Grey in a restored 1938 Greyhound bus terminal on MLK in late 2014; Bailey won the James Beard Best Chef Southeast award in 2019 and Outstanding Chef in 2022. The room redefined Savannah dining around Port City Southern technique blending West African, Caribbean and Lowcountry traditions.

Immigrant influences

• Gullah Geechee (West African): Descendants of enslaved Africans from the Senegambia Rice Coast built Lowcountry cuisine on rice, okra, peas, greens and seafood. Shrimp and grits, hoppin' John, red rice, okra soup and benne wafers all trace here.
• Irish: Savannah's Irish community, established in the 1830s and 1840s, is one of the largest per capita in the United States. The St. Patrick's Day parade is one of the country's largest; pub food runs through The Rail Pub.
• Greek (Leopold brothers): Greek-immigrant brothers George and Peter Leopold brought family ice-cream recipes to Savannah in 1919, opening Leopold's at Gwinnett and Habersham. The Broughton incarnation has run under Stratton Leopold since 2004.
• Italian-American: Italian Savannah's contribution runs through Saint Bibiana's coastal-Italian programme at Hotel Bardo today, plus older Italian-American rooms across the city. The community has been strong since the 19th century.

Signature innovations

• Carolina Gold rice cultivation, brought from the Senegambia Rice Coast
• Shrimp and grits as a Lowcountry breakfast and dinner plate
• She-crab soup with female crab roe (originated in Charleston but standard on every Savannah menu)
• Lowcountry boil (Frogmore stew): one-pot shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes
• Pecan pralines pulled in copper kettles, as still done at Savannah's Candy Kitchen
• Benne wafers (sesame cookies), a Gullah Geechee sweet exported nationally