The story
She-crab soup belongs to Charleston, South Carolina. The usual story credits William Deas, butler and cook to Robert Goodwyn Rhett, the city's mayor in the early 1900s. Asked to dress up the family's plain crab soup, he is said to have added the orange roe of female crabs, which gave it colour and richness, with a splash of sherry as the finishing touch. A popular tale says he made it for a visit by President Taft, who came to Charleston in 1909, but food historians doubt that part, and some trace the soup back to Scottish partan bree. It spread through Charleston's restaurants and is also loved in Savannah.
Rival claims
The story that William Deas created it for President Taft's visit is probably apocryphal, and some historians trace it to Scottish partan bree; Savannah, Georgia also serves it as a specialty.
Also known as she crab soup, Charleston she-crab soup.
On the Meridish menu
She-crab soup was the soup course on menu No. 28 on October 28, 2026. Its clue in the game, which hints at the place without naming it:
A creamy crab bisque enriched with orange crab roe and a splash of sherry. A mayor's butler perfected it in this old, pastel-painted Southern port in the early 1900s.
In Meridish, every dish is pinned to the town or city most widely credited with creating it. A guess within 25 km scores all 100 points. How scoring works.
Sources
- thetakeout.com/1706488/she-crab-soup-south-carolina-origin
- chstoday.6amcity.com/shecrab-soup-history-charleston-sc
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She-crab_soup
Food history is often disputed. Think we've pinned it in the wrong place? Tell us at hello@meridish.com, ideally with a source.
