Charleston to remember Nathalie Dupree at March 29 event

Friends of culinary legend Nathalie Dupree, a former Charleston resident who died January 13, will gather downtown on March 29 to celebrate and remember her incredible life.

Friends will meet 11 a.m. March 29 in the Camden Room at the Charleston Visitor Center, 375 Meeting St., to share stories about the James Beard Award-winning cookbook author who hugged life with zeal and joy during her 85 years.

Cynthia Graubart, who co-authored a 2011 cookbook with Dupree on Southern biscuits (who knew there were so many kinds of biscuits?), recalled how her friend really was the “queen of Southern cooking.”

“Nathalie’s presence in Charleston was undeniable,” she said. “How very fitting she lived on Queen Street!

“Not only will we be honoring her life, we will be honoring the immeasurable impact she had on dozens and dozens of culinary novices who she mentored and all who have gone on to have important and fulfilling careers in the culinary space. Charleston embraced Nathalie, but she loved Charleston even more.”

Among those scheduled to speak at the memorial are a blend of writers, cooks and friends: Marion Sullivan, Mary Alice Monroe, David Shields, Angel Holmes, Andy Brack, Teresa Taylor, Gervais Hagerty, Marilyn Wilson Markel and Graubart.

If you want to go, seating is limited and requires a ticket, which is free through this link. If you can’t get a ticket or are not able to attend, the remembrance will be livestreamed here. Refreshments will follow the memorial.

A celebrated national figure

Dupree, whose infectious personality lit up any room she entered, freely offered cooking advice on blending tastes to anyone who asked.

A celebrated national figure in the culinary world who won four James Beard Awards, Dupree wrote 15 cookbooks and appeared in more than 300 television shows during her career.

In 2020, she and her historian husband Jack Bass moved from Charleston to Raleigh to be closer to Bass’ children. They moved to Charleston two decades earlier when Bass, author of nine books, was teaching at the College of Charleston. They married in 1994.

In Charleston, the couple often entertained in their Queen Street single house with Dupree offering impromptu parties to host friends’ new books or to tout a favored cause. These were relaxed affairs where people talked politics, food and books, helping themselves to delectable food from a dining table and wine in coolers on a sloped porch with a mish-mash of wine glasses that looked like they were on a flea market table.

Dupree, who was born in 1939 in Hamilton, N.J., got bitten by the politics bug before making a career in food. She reportedly was the youngest precinct captain for John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1960. Fifty years later, she ran as a write-in candidate in an unsuccessful – but fun – attempt to oust Republican U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina.

In the late 1970s, Dupree directed the South’s first participation cooking school at Rich’s department store in Atlanta where she is said to have taught more than 10,000 students. That experience led to a popular television career on PBS, Food Network and The Learning Channel.

Dupree also co-founded the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) along with chefs Julia Child, Jacques Pepin and Martin Yan. Later, she was the founding chair of the Charleston Wine + Food Festival, as well as a founder and board member of the Southern Foodways Alliance.

And she loved mentoring. Dupree organized several chapters of Les Dames d’Escoffier, an international association for women dedicated to advancing women in the culinary industry. In 2011, it bestowed Dupree with its highest honor, Grande Dame, for her achievements.

Bass, Dupree’s husband, continues to live in Raleigh.