There’s an Ashanti proverb that says: “Do not follow the path. Go where there is no path to begin the trail.” My grandmother, Daisy Peterson Trammell, was born in Georgia in 1898 and came to Tuskegee as a young woman with three children escaping from a tyrannical relationship with a married man; my grandfather. Grandmama never heard of the Ashanti people, however she unconsciously lived her life based on this fearless proverb.
My grandmother was on the other side of fifty when she decided to open her own restaurant. Inspired by the courage and fortitude of the Tuskegee Airmen who she cooked for during the war, she determined it was her turn to take flight. Convincing a white-owned bank to give her a loan in the heart of Jim Crow territory was quite a fete in those days. But you had to know my grandmama; she did it. With the money she built a small eatery, “Trammell’s Snack and Dine-The Cafe’ of Home Cooked Food,” on a lot adjacent to her home on the Montgomery Highway. As word of her soulful cooking and hospitality spread, truckers from all over the country detoured off their routes to eat her food.
During my formative years, I spent summers in the cafe’s kitchen snapping bushels of green beans, shelling peas until my fingers were raw and almost bleeding, picking tubs and tubs of mustard and collard greens, peeling 10 lb. bags of potatoes and learning the art of enhancing nature with herbs and spices. Needless to say, my passion for cooking was fueled years ago while hanging on to my grandmama’s apron strings. My own unique eating adventure, Chez Mama Daisy is a tribute to this gutsy, proud example of courage and spirit; not to mention the best cook that ever held a pan in her hand! So I got it! Try some puddin’, pies, cakes and sides, you won’t be disappointed!
Bon Appetit,
Chef ‘Nita
Grandmama Daisy always kept her cash and a pistol in the roll of her stockings…just in case.
