Join Fearrington for Spring Council: A Southern Roots Buffet Luncheon on Fri, Feb 13, 12pm-2pm in the Fearrington Barn. During this special luncheon reception, you’ll celebrate Spring Council’s debut cookbook, Southern Roots: Recipes and Stories from Mama Dip’s Daughter. Spring Council will be in conversation with noted food historian Marcie Cohen Ferris, who penned the forward to the cookbook. The menu will feature:

• Appetizers: Pimento Cheese Biscuits and Sweet Potato Cornbread.
• Salads: Caesar Salad and Tangy Potato Salad.
• Spinach, Parmesan & Artichoke Gratin.
• Mac & Cheese.
• Grits Casserole.
• Chicken Croquettes.
• Pecan and Herbed Crusted Salmon.
• Dessert: Coconut Cake and Chocolate Bread Pudding with Candied Bacon.
• Beverages: Old Fashioned Lemonade, The Big ‘O’, and Cardamom Iced Tea.

Your $125 ticket includes admission to the event, a buffet luncheon, and a signed copy of the cookbook to take home.

ABOUT SPRING COUNCIL

Spring Council is a celebrated Southern chef and culinary curator based in Chapel Hill. She grew up immersed in authentic Southern cooking as the youngest daughter of Mildred “Mama Dip” Council, founder of the iconic Mama Dip’s Kitchen, and has spent over five decades helping evolve and preserve her family’s rich food traditions. Spring worked in every aspect of the restaurant’s operations and later became co-owner and spokesperson for Mama Dip’s, contributing to its reputation as a beloved local institution. She has appeared at major culinary events, contributed recipes to regional publications, and is a member of professional organizations, including the James Beard Foundation and Les Dames d’Escoffier. In addition to her culinary work, Spring is a community advocate in Orange County and runs charitable initiatives in her mother’s legacy. Southern Roots: Recipes and Stories from Mama Dip’s Daughter is her debut cookbook.

ABOUT SOUTHERN ROOTS

This collection features 100 treasured recipes ranging from easy weeknight meals to celebratory dishes, blending time-honored family traditions with the author’s own Southern-inspired creations. Woven throughout are personal stories that illuminate how food has shaped her life and deepened her connection to Southern heritage. Full-color photography showcases each dish on her vintage tableware, while inventive ingredients and modern techniques bring fresh energy to classic Southern cooking.

ABOUT MARCIE COHEN FERRIS 

Marcie Cohen Ferris is an American food historian, author, and professor based in Chapel Hill. Her work focuses on Southern Foodways, culinary history, and the cultural meanings of food, exploring how food shapes regional identity and social life. Ferris is a faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she teaches and conducts research in American studies and cultural history. She has written and contributed to several acclaimed books and publications on Southern cooking, tradition, and food culture, and is a frequent speaker and commentator on topics ranging from food history to gender and labor in the culinary world.

See more events at Fearrington Village. Fearrington Village is part of the Chatham County Craft Beverages & Country Inns Trail.