Citation: QVCtv. “Mama Dip’s Kitchen and Family Cookbook 2-Book Set by Mildred Council with Jill Bauer.” Filmed [August 2015]. YouTube video, 4:06. Posted [August 2015]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyAgElD5vN4.
In today’s world of “As Seen On TV” consuming and online shopping, we can find many examples of restaurant and food products for sale. Chapel Hill is no exception, and even has a few restaurants known around the country. One example of this is Mama Dip’s Kitchen, a southern restaurant that has been a Chapel Hill favorite for decades. Mildred Council, better known as Mama Dip, opened her restaurant in 1976 and quickly became popular not just in Chapel Hill, but around the country. Mildred Council’s death in 2018 made national headlines, as Chapel Hill mourned her loss.
Fans of Mama Dip’s did not always have to make the journey to Chapel Hill, however. In 1998, the magazine Southern Living published a story about the restaurant, followed by an interview on Good Morning America with Mildred Council. Mildred Council also published two cookbooks, called Mama Dip’s Kitchen and Mama Dip’s Family Cookbook. After publishing the first cookbook in 1998, Mildred Council was invited on QVC shows to publicize her book. This video, recorded in 2015, is an example of one of the many appearances Mildred Council made on QVC. Although she often traveled to make these appearances, this video appears to be recorded in Chapel Hill. In the video, she chats with the host and shows off her food as viewers can call in to order copies of her cookbooks.
This video is important for the Contemporary Food Issues time period because it shows the power of media and online sales to drive popularity of a product and a restaurant. In earlier time periods, one would have had to travel to Chapel Hill to see Mama Dip and her restaurant. In this time period, however, people from all over the country and world are able to see who Mama Dip is, and can make her recipes from the cookbooks. In addition, media has allowed for a sense of celebrity in cooking that was not necessarily possible in earlier time periods. Because anyone can see who Mama Dip is and what her food looks like, her popularity and notoriety increased in a way that would have been impossible without the media and online shopping.
[1] Council, Mildred. Mama Dip’s Family Cookbook. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
[1] All Things Considered, “Restaurateur Mildred ‘Mama Dip’ Council Dies At 89,” NPR, May 24, 2018, https://www. .org/2018/05/24/614195883/restaurateur-mildred-mama-dip-council-dies-at-89.
[1] Mama Dip’s Family Cookbook, 19.
[1] QVCtv. “Mama Dip’s Kitchen and Family Cookbook 2-Book Set by Mildred Council with Jill Bauer.” Filmed [August 2015]. YouTube video, 4:06. Posted [August 2015]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyAgElD5vN4.
-Anna Knotek