Dr. David Shields
Dr. David Shields is known as “the flavor saver”. He tracks down lost food crops and assists in restoring them to fields and tables: Carolina Gold Rice, Cocke’s Prolific Corn, Rice Peas, Purple Straw Wheat, the Dyehouse Cherry, Benne, Carolina African Runner Peanut, Purple Ribbon Sugar Cane, Hick’s Mulberry, Seashore Black Seed Rye, and Bradford Watermelon.
He has written award-winning agricultural and culinary histories, including Southern Provisions (2015), The Culinarians (2017), Taste the State South Carolina (2021), The Ark of Taste (2023) (with Giselle Kennedy Lord), and Taste the State Georgia. Shields documents the extraordinary creations of two centuries of American plant breeders, farmers, and chefs while showing the forces at work that marginalize flavor and nutrition in the nation’s food system.
He chairs the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation, heads the Ark of Taste Committee for the South, and is the Carolina Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of South Carolina. He is the Southern Foodways Alliance’s “Keeper of the Flame,” twice a James Beard finalist in food history, and Slow Food’s Snailblazer for Biodiversity.
Stories
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RECIPE - It's A Great Pumpkin | The Savers of Flavor
May 25, 2026Find a recipe from The Savers of Flavor episode, It's a Great Pumpkin , below. Pumpkin Chips Ingredients 1 pumpkin For every pound of cut-up pumpkin: 1 pound (2 cups) sugar, 1/2 cup lemon juice Instructions Peel the outer skin off the pumpkin. Your vegetable peeler, if you... -
RECIPES - Okra from Another Mother | The Savers of Flavor
May 19, 2026Find recipes from The Savers of Flavor Okra From Another Mother episode below. Stewed Okra Leaves and Smoked Catfish Ingredients 2 pounds of okra leaves, washed, thick stems removed, and chopped 1 small yellow onion chopped 1 red pepper, diced 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper 6... -
RECIPE - A Cherry to Dye For | The Savers of Flavor
May 14, 2026Find a recipe from The Savers of Flavor episode, A Cherry to Dye For, below. Cebah's Cherry Pie Recipe Makes 1 Pie Ingredients Cebah's Cherry Pie Crust 3 cups of All-purpose flour Pinch of salt 6 tablespoons lard 6 tablespoons of butter Ice water Cebah's Dyehouse Cherry Pie... -
RECIPES - Peas Come to Table | The Savers of Flavor
May 07, 2026Which pea ripens first? From Thomas Jefferson’s spring contests to a lost heirloom, savers rediscover the Early Frame pea in South Carolina and return it to Monticello. Find recipes from The Savers of Flavor Peas Come to Table episode below. Pea Pilau Ingredients 1 cup...
