Southerners might not have invented pimiento cheese, but we’ve sure done our best to claim it.
The spread has kept its place on tables here in both high and low culture from tearoom sandwiches presented on tiered silver trays to the diagonally cut variety served on a paper plate at the drugstore counter. It also played a role in empowering women entrepreneurs even before they could vote.
Eugenia Duke, for example, founder of Duke’s Mayonnaise in Greenville, South Carolina, sold pimiento cheese sandwiches from her home to textile mill workers as well as downtown hotels. Later in the 1950s, a Nashville secretary named Grace Grissom mortgaged all she owned to create Mrs. Grissom’s pimiento cheese, still found in groceries today. This version stays classic and straightforward with plenty of pimientos in every bite, because that’s the ingredient that makes this spread unique. Worcestershire, hot sauce, and parsley add color and pop.