Charleston Magazine | How To Make Feel-Good Food

By Marion Sullivan

Hearty but wholesome veg-forward eats from the chef of Harbinger and Harken.

Born and raised in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Greer Gilchrist became enamoured with life in the kitchen at an early age, reading cookbooks at the breakfast table and routinely baking with her parents. After graduating from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, she spent her formative post-college years teaching English abroad, exploring myriad flavors and food customs around the world, from the Middle East to Europe and Central America.

In 2015, Gilchrist began baking professionally in Washington, DC, where she worked alongside friend and future business partner Cameron Neal. Two years later, the women decided to relocate to Neal’s hometown of Charleston and open Harbinger, a cafe and bakery in North Central.

Their sister location in the French Quarter, Harken, launched October 2019; both projects have quickly become neighborhood staples that echo a kindred ethos: vegetable-forward food made with local produce in an intimate setting where customers can feel at home.

See full feature with recipes in Charleston Magazine.