Stephanie Phares, owner of Zeeland St. Market

Thanksgiving must-have: Sweet potatoes Favorite thing to make with leftovers: Turkey chowder or turkey gumbo On family traditions:“I grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, and we owned a little plot of land out in Canton. My grandmother was the kind of lady who liked you to know where your food came from, so the kids would pick a vegetable to grow and sell—I picked cucumbers, for instance, and my sister picked okra. Well, we all pitched in for sweet potatoes. We’d plant them in July and help roast them when we harvested them. For Thanksgiving, my grandmother would come in from the field with all the different colors—orange, yellow, white—and we’d each pick our favorite, and she’d make sweet potato pies out of them. She raised me from age 12 to 17, and she taught me to cook. Today around Thanksgiving I like to slow down and cook for my family what I remember from her recipes.” (Photo courtesy Stephanie Phares)