The Carolina Rice Kitchen: The African Connection

Where did rice originate? How did the name Hoppin' John evolve? Why was the famous rice called "Carolina Gold"?

The rice kitchen of early Carolina was the result of a myriad of influences—Persian, Arab, French, English, African—but it was primarily the creation of enslaved African American cooks. And it evolved around the use of Carolina Gold. Although rice had not previously been a staple of the European plantation ...