Want to experience the heart and soul of Charleston? Taste the local food. Comprised of heirloom recipes proudly passed from one generation to the next, Lowcountry cuisine has evolved over the past 300 years. Today’s chefs reap the best local ingredients to create dishes that celebrate Charleston’s authentic flavours, including ‘she-crab’ soup (a cross between a bisque and a chowder), shrimp and grits, collard greens, Lowcountry boil, crab cakes, hoppin’ John (a rice-and-bean pilaf), oyster pie, biscuits and gravy, Country Captain (curried chicken and rice), and more. The benne wafer, which dates back to the plantation age, is a popular treat: crunchy wafers made from butter, sugar and sesame seeds. A great Charleston souvenir, bags of benne wafers are available at the historic City Market. Go behind the scenes with Culinary Tours of Charleston and visit noted chefs, bakers, artisan food producers and chocolatiers for an authentic sample of the area’s prized cuisine.