The Story of Charleston, as Told Through an Oyster and Okra Gumbo

A great way to get to know a place better is through its food, as inevitably, the regional and seasonal ingredients have played a big role in building the character and personality of a place. So whether it’s strolling through a farmers market or a grocery store or sampling the local specialties at a bakery or restaurant, you’ll likely learn a lot about the geographical, cultural, and historical roots of the area. Call it terroir, call it merroir, or just call it a delicious understanding.

Case in point would be how an oyster and okra gumbo tells you a lot about Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry. Chef and restaurateur Mike Lata — of FIG and The Ordinary in Charleston — spoke about the topic in depth at the Food & Wine Classic in Charleston.

Calling oysters and mariculture one of “the best stories in the food chain,” Lata believes that the farm raising of oysters is not only a “net positive for the environment” but that they’re also delicious and “best represent a sense of place, which is what we strive to do in our restaurants.” 

Lata recounted the first time he ever ate an oyster in Charleston: "It was in a skiff with a local farmer, and we were popping oysters in the boat, which had a hole in it. I'm standing in the water and I said, 'Nowhere else in the world can I get this experience than right here.' And that was one of the many things that has happened to me over the course of my career that has really grounded me in what it is that we do."

In preparing his dish of a "neo-traditional version of a Lowcountry gumbo," Lata admitted that there are many different kinds and iterations of gumbo, likening it to a "dialect in a cuisine." The language spoken here was seasonality, and specifically that of summertime. "It's the longest season we have," said Lata. In the gumbo he prepared, okra and tomatoes figured prominently.

"The springtime, it's very short in Charleston," said Lata. "So asparagus, little baby lettuces, and radishes, all the things that come up in the springtime are here and gone so fast. It fills chefs with anxiety because they're here, you change your menu, they're gone, you change your menu." But when summer hits, with vegetables like peppers, tomatoes, okra, and eggplant, said Lata, "They go from June, and then there's a second run in the fall right now. So you can have those ingredients on your menu for four months. It's fun to celebrate the summer here."

Another element of the bowl of Lata's oyster and okra gumbo was rice. "Rice is a huge part of our culture," said Lata. "A lot of people put the rice down first. I think this is sacrilege." Rice is traditionally paired with gumbo because, according to Lata, "It was plentiful, and you could make a much bigger meal out of it." But his take is that gumbo is not a rice dish. He likes to "kind of kick it to the side a little bit" and let the diner break it up, where "it becomes suspended, and the rice is part of it, but it doesn't take over the texture of the actual viscosity of the gumbo."

To Lata, an oyster and okra gumbo absolutely speaks of a sense of place. "This dish represents what's happening right here, right now, in Charleston," said Lata. "The gumbo is very much a dish that is of the Lowcountry with Lowcountry ingredients." He believes in a concept he calls "the Charleston palate," where like-minded, expressive chefs are working with the same local "amazing" ingredients. "You'll leave with an impression of the city based on the experience," said Lata. "I think when you leave, you'll say, there's something about Charleston and its cuisine that is so unique and so different."