The best places in the South to eat and celebrate okra

High yield and hardy, okra thrives in the unrelenting heat of the South’s summer months. Thought to have been introduced to Louisiana from West Africa during the early 18th century by enslaved Africans, the plant’s resilience and diverse uses made it integral to the region’s foodways. You’ll see it fried, grilled, pickled, and stirred into gumbo as a thickening agent. Okra is itchy to pick and sticky to cook (blame a naturally occurring slime called mucilage), but those qualities are exactly what make it special—a singular and indispensable Southern culinary staple.

While its exact etymology is disputed, most linguists believe that the word gumbo is derived from “ki ngombo,” a term meaning okra in several West African languages.

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