2024 Keeper of the Flame: Sheri Castle

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SFA is delighted to announce Sheri Castle as the 2024 Keeper of the Flame.

Born in Watauga County, North Carolina, Sheri Castle grew up a voracious reader, especially of cookbooks. She wrote her first recipe—for a smoothie she named the Hawaiian Tropic Sunset Delight—at the age of four and submitted it to a local housekeeping television show. At thirteen, she worked her way through The Joy of Cooking. Years later, Castle won Southern Living’s first annual holiday recipe contest.

A self-taught cook, she started developing recipes and ghostwriting cookbooks for chefs across the nation. After nearly a decade of writing in the voices of others, Castle published her own book, The New Southern Garden, in 2011. She is recognized industry-wide for her palate, the reliability of her recipes, and for being an eleventh-hour “fixer” for struggling cookbooks and restaurant kitchens. Castle continues to publish books, recipes, and essays under her own name—including a 2022 set of barbecue side dishes for Gravy—for brands including Southern Living and Le Creuset, and as a ghostwriter. Her PBS show, The Key Ingredient, is a love letter to North Carolina foodways. In every episode, Castle highlights one local ingredient and traces its journey to the kitchen.

For her contributions to Southern foodways, her curiosity about regional ingredients and history, and the quality and integrity of her work, SFA honors Sheri Castle.

Each fall since 2000, the SFA, has honored a foodways tradition bearer of note, with the  Keeper of the Flame Award. We pay homage to their life and work through a documentary film, directed by Joe York. This year, that film debuted on Sunday, October 27, during the 2024 Southern Foodways Alliance Fall Symposium in Raleigh, NC.

Other Links

Sheri Castle

A completely self-taught cook, Sheri Castle is the author of multiple books, including The Southern Living Community Cookbook and The New Southern Garden Cookbook. Read More

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Chefs Believe in Ghosts

Chefs Believe in Ghosts A professional cookbook author preserves a restaurant’s magic while revealing its best tricks. by Sheri Castle illustrations by Yuki Murayama I’ve had the good fortune to be a ghostwriter on a handful of restaurant cookbooks. They’re different from other… Read More

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Sheri Castle’s Banana Pudding

Sheri Castle's banana pudding is the perfect finish to any barbecue. Read More

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