Ask the right folks, and you’ll hear plenty of stories about the Lowcountry and rice.

And not just in South Carolina. Swing by the Harlem apartment of Alexander Smalls, the influential New York cookbook author and restaurateur, and he might cook you a bowl of rice grits (which are made out of broken rice grains instead of hominy) smothered in a rich, peppery gravy studded with crabmeat and shrimp. His grandfather worked in the rice fields of South Carolina, and Smalls spent time in and around Charleston growing up. “My grandfather would’ve done it just like this,” he says. “My dad would’ve had okra in here. My father had to have rice for every dinner and every lunch. My father would get up from the table if there was no rice.” In the kitchen, Smalls puts a spoonful of hot grits onto the palm of his hand and pops it into his mouth like a bump of caviar. “Oh my my, it’s ready,” he murmurs.