Sautéed Shrimp and Okra

“I eat okra every week—some way, somehow,” says BJ Dennis. “I’ll make a gumbo. I’ll eat okra by itself, just sautéed. I’ll deep-fry it, too. It’s my favorite vegetable.” It’s also a powerful symbol of history and place for Dennis, a Charleston native with deep roots in the city’s Gullah Geechee community. Not only has he been eating okra his entire life, but the easy-growing crop was also one of the last things his grandfather planted on the Daniel Island family farm before old age took him out of the field. And as Dennis points out, it’s been a part of his family history for much longer than that. “It came from Africa,” he says. “Culturally, it’s in my DNA.” Shrimp, abundant in South Carolina waters, is another staple of the Gullah Geechee diet, and a natural companion to the chopped okra and other garden-fresh vegetables in this one-skillet meal or side dish.