Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 4, 1937 Fairfax, South Carolina, United States |
| Died | September 3, 2016 (aged 79) Bronx, New York, United States |
| Nationality | American, Gullah |
| Occupation(s) | Culinary anthropologist, Actress, Food writer, Broadcaster |
| Years active | 1958–2016 |
| Children | Chandra Weinland Brown Kali Grosvenor-Henry |
Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor (April 4, 1937 – September 3, 2016) was an American culinary anthropologist, griot, poet, food writer, and broadcaster on public media. Born into a Gullah family in the Low Country of South Carolina, she moved with them as a child to Philadelphia during the Great Migration. Later she lived in Paris before settling in New York City. She was active in the Black Arts Movement and performed on Broadway.
Her travels informed her cooking and appreciation of food as culture. She was known for her cookbook-memoir, Vibration Cooking: or, The Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl (1970), and published numerous essays and articles. She produced two award-winning documentaries and was a commentator for years on NPR, serving as a contributor to its NOW series.
Grosvenor also appeared in several films, including Personal Problems (1980), an independent film by Bill Gunn, Daughters of the Dust (1992), about a Gullah family in 1902 during a time of transition on the Sea Islands, and Beloved (1998), based on Toni Morrison's 1987 novel of the same name. She was in a National Geographic documentary about the Gullah people.