Due South

Celebrating Mildred Council's legacy and what's next for Mama Dip's Kitchen

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Spring Council and her siblings, all co-owners of Mama Dip’s Kitchen in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, have recently put the Rosemary Street building up for sale. Mama Dip was the nickname of Mildred Council who opened the restaurant in 1976, and passed away in 2018.
Kate Medley

The late Mildred “Mama Dip” Council opened her restaurant Mama Dip’s Kitchen in the mid-1970s. Nearly 50 years later, the Council family has voted to sell the restaurant and the land where it sits, a big move for the town’s oldest Black-owned restaurant. Leoneda Inge takes us to Chapel Hill where a second and third generation of African American family cooks work to make sure “Mama Dip’s” legacy lives on.

This story was produced for the Southern Foodways Alliance podcast Gravy.

Due SouthSouthern Food
Leoneda Inge
Leoneda Inge is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at WUNC as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.
See stories by Leoneda Inge
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