ISSUE 51, BLACK CULINARY HISTORY, Part 5: Romeo Govan, the Life of a Gullah Country Cook
ROMEO GOVAN (1843-1915)
For the first decade and a half of the twentieth century no Gullah caterer in South Carolina rivaled Romeo Govan for the finesse of his fish cookery and the pungency of his story-telling. Whenever public men wanted to party outdoors, Romeo Govan would be contracted, and whether a fishing expedition on the islands, a barbecue at a lake, a militia encampment, or civic anniversary, his cauldron and grills would be trucked to the site so he could perform his magic. He became so famous, the public men came to him. The Bamberg Herald in Govan’s obituary noted, “For many years ‘Romey’ has been host to some of the State’s most notable jurists and other men in public life who have as chance visitors here been entertained at the fish feasts for which his humble home became right famous. His building on the banks of the Edisto River became known as ‘the club house.’
Born into slavery in Orangeburg County to William Govan and Mary Brunson Govan, Romeo, he spent his teenage years driving the carriage of Captain John S. Jennings in Orangeburg. Freed by the occupation of the midlands by the Union Army in February 1865, Romeo Govan procured land in Midway Township in Barnwell, County, (Later Bamberg County) South Carolina, and set up as a farmer. He married Silvy Jennings, and invited his widowed mother to reside in his household. The couple never produced children. He began catering sometime in the 1870s.
When Govan built a wooden pavilion on his property and began hosting parties of 50 to a 100 diners cannot now be determined accurately. But by the turn of the twentieth century “the club house” near Cannon Bridge (where State Rd S 5-42 crosses the Edisto River) had become a fixture in South Carolina’s geography of convivialty. An excursion to “Uncle Romie’s” had become a quest for gustatory and social pleasure. “[A]bout 50 men, hale and hearty . . . journeyed to the club house on the Edisto on Thursday afternoon and there partook of what is conceded by every one of the 50 to be the climax of fish fry and cat fish stew. With Uncle Romeo Goven, past master at the art of stewing and frying and a cook with a long list of names, ranging from governors, attorney generals, bishops, down to candidates for coroner, etcetera, who have been his guests at the riverside, the day was well vouched for before the beautiful lot of red breast perch with mammoth pots of cat fish stew and great bunches of red horse bread were seen by the invited guests” (1908).
We know a good bit about Govan’s repertoire. He specialized in fresh water fish—bream [red breasted perch], red horse [Moxostoma carinatum], cat fish, and trout. The perch and the trout were fried, the bream, red horse and the cat fish were stewed. The cat fish was cooked thick in a thickened milk sauce, like a chowder, the bream in the style of pine bark stew—that is with bacon fat, onions, tomatoes, tomato sauce, cayenne, Worcester, then, fish and salt. There were accompanied by red horse bread. A 1907 visitor, encountering this midlands version of what earlier Carolinians called an Indian meal fritter, and later ones a hush puppy, inspired this appreciation: “What cat fish stew, and fried trout and perch, and ‘red horse bread’ and coffee! This was a new bread to the writer, and so delicious, that I beg lovers of the finny tribe to try some. It is made by simply mixing cornmeal with water, salt and egg, and dropping by spoonfuls in the hot lard in which the fish have been fried” (1907). Other reporters noted other dishes on the table. A 1903 diner found “Fish of every kin, prepared in every way, chicken salads, and the once eaten, never-to-be-forgotten ‘red horse bread.’ Of vegetables only rice and okra ever receive mention. Instead of dessert, he served stories and coffee to his guests. A humorist and raconteur, his witticism and tall tales graced many news accounts of the feasts on the Edisto. Though he served coffee at his feasts, he was not a temperance man, and once, when requested to offer a toast at the conclusion of a meal, he indicated he could not recall one. “Ynner nebber bring anyting wid you to help a man ‘member.”
Despite suggesting an interest in alcohol, Govan was a disciplined fellow (unlike another Romeo Govan in Orangeburg who fled to Florida in 1890 for killing Henry Funchess over a game). Indeed, when not designated as Uncle Romey in the newspapers, he appeared as Rev. Romeo Govan, though he was not formally affiliated with any local congregation.
Romeo Govan’s surviving witticisms are rendered in recognizable Gullah dialect. Though raised at the inland margin of the Lowcountry, Govan was thoroughly familiar with the scene of the sea islands and the styles of fish and game cookery there. Enlisted to cook on fishing parties and in camps, he had become familiar with the eastern half of the state from the Peedee to Beaufort.
When Govan died of Bright’s disease in 1915, he was celebrated as a signal personality in the life of the region. His wife Silvy survived him, and attached her maiden name to her married designation, calling herself ‘Silvie Govan Jennings.”
Sources: United States Federal Census, 1880, Midway Township, Barnwell County, Sup District 9, Enumeration District 34, page 19. “Jolliest Happiest Party,” Augusta Chronicle (August 17, 1903), 6. “Second Regiment Encampment,” Bamberg Herald (July 28, 1904), 1. “Fish Fry at ‘Romey’s’,” The Bamberg Herald (June 27, 1907), 1. “Romeo Govan at Home,” State (May 27, 1908), 3. “Pine Bark Fish Stew,” Charleston News & Courier (November 9, 1909), 2. “A. E. Baker Honor Guest,” Charleston Courier (May 17, 1913), 3. “Doctors Enjoy Fish Fry,” Bamberg Herald (May 22, 1913), 8. “Good Old Negro Dies,” Bamberg Evening Herald (December 23, 1915), .