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Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region. If you would like to contribute to SFA’s oral history collections, please send your ideas for oral history along with your CV or Resume and a portfolio of prior oral history work to info@southernfoodways.org.

< Back to Oral History project: Southern Baking

ORAL HISTORY

Tiesha Whittaker

Buttermilk Boutique

Tie Whittaker is no stranger to southern desserts—her family’s roots are in the South. A graduate of Boston University’s Gastronomy Program, she has been a professional pastry chef for thirteen years. Whittaker honed her skills in kitchens along the East Coast before settling down in Clayton, North Carolina. Both grandmothers and great-grandmothers on each side of her family gained fame in their communities for their baking abilities. Buttermilk Boutique, an homage to Whittaker’s grandmother Angel, uses her family’s time-tested recipes as a bridge between the past and present.

Date of interview:
2022-09-01

Interviewer:
Kelly Spivey

Photographer:
Kate Lord

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