Crabbing with a South Carolina Native with Gullah-Geechee Roots

I learned about Tia Clark from my Crab cook-along guests Oscar Johnson and Daryl Cooper, two of the many friends we realized we had in common. After our delightful day together, we’re now friends as well. 

Tia is a Charleston, South Carolina native with Gullah-Geechee roots who turned her passion for nature, conservation, sustainability, and being on the water into a business. She describes herself as a “food and beverage veteran who started ‘Casual Crabbing with Tia’ in 2017 when health problems led her to make an overhaul of her diet and lifestyle.”    

She goes on to explain, “I grew up with no relationship with the water that surrounded me. One day of getting access to the water and having one of the most memorable days of my life crabbing and fishing with a cousin changed everything for me. My love for what I do has propelled me into a world of stewardship and conservation.” 

Sometimes I select field trip guests and locations because I want to take viewers to places I’ve enjoyed before, but other times I take viewers along for my first-time experiences, which is certainly the case when it comes to fishing for crab off a wooden dock in a downtown Charleston marina.

I’ve been on a couple of crabs boats, but Tia showed me how to use baited lines, baskets, and cast nets. Thanks to Tia’s expert instructions, cheerful personality, and plenty of patience, even a landlubber such as I was able to haul in several gorgeous blue crabs.

I paid particularly close attention to her step-by-step process for picking up a snap happy crab so that it couldn’t pinch a hunk out of my arm. Details matter.  

It was a picture-perfect day with sparkling sun, brilliant blue skies, and gentle ocean breezes. It was also a rollicking good time, a day I’ll never forget. The crew and I had so much fun with Tia that we wound up going to dinner together afterward, sharing platters of food and swapping stories well into the night.  

Sheri Castle, award-winning food writer and cooking teacher, is known for melding culinary expertise, storytelling and humor, so she can tell a tale while making a memorable meal. Her creative, well-crafted recipes and practical advice inspire people to cook with confidence and enthusiasm. She's written a tall stack of cookbooks and her work appears in dozens of magazines. In 2019, the Southern Foodways Alliance named Sheri among Twenty Living Legends of Southern Food, calling her The Storyteller.

Sheri says that she's fueled by great ingredients and the endless pursuit of intriguing stories, usually about the role that food plays in our lives, families, communities and culture.

When she steps away from the kitchen or a local farm, Sheri enjoys spending quiet time at her home near Chapel Hill. She hails from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.