Melba Wilson

I was born, bred, and buttered in Harlem, and spent my summer vacations with my grandparents in Hemingway, South Carolina—a welcome, relaxing getaway from New York City life. As a young girl, I honed my people and entrepreneurial skills while attending the Ophelia DeVore School of Charm in midtown Manhattan and while working at Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem, but I actually learned to cook in my grandmother’s kitchen. Grandma Amelia (or Mea, as we called her) mixed love with every other ingredient that went into her down-home country cooking—and she made some of the best food I’ve ever tasted!