Big Mama, whose real name is Emma Sue Miller McWhorter was born in Burda, Georgia just outside of Griffin, south of Atlanta. When Dargin was 3 years old, Big Mama and her husband James “Candy Jim” McWhorter, along with her other kids, born at the time, Nancy, James Jr. and Cornelius migrated to Chattanooga, TN where she owned and operated a small restaurant. In 1956 She, and her two youngest children Sam and Pat joined her son Dargin who had moved to Pasadena, CA in pursuit of a professional boxing career.
In 1970, under Big Mama’s guidance, Dargin and his wife Anita opened Emma Sues Fish & BBQ on Fair Oaks in Altadena, Ca. Then in the early 80’s They did the same in Old Town Pasadena.Dargin McWhorter with Big Mama coaching from the sidelines, and with the help and support of his wife Anita and children Dewayne, Dargin Jr., Dargetta, d’Artagnan, Darron, Demetrius and Deeana opened the doors of Big Mama’s Cooking, inc. on March 17th 1992 in Las Vegas, NV on the fabulous “Las Vegas Strip” between Tropicana and Flamingo, later moving to Bonanza Rd.
On September 20th, 2002 Dargin’s children (Darron, Dargetta, Mel and Leslie) opened the Pasadena restaurant in a fine location on North Lake. that used to house another famous restaurant named Gianones Steak House.a small
Big Mama and Children have closed all the restaurants. But being sensitive to to our customer’s requests, Big Mama and her kids have launched an online Secret Seasoning ordering company so that you and yours can quickly and easily cook 95% or more of Big Mama’s menu delicacies at your home, cafe or anywhere else. And they have made this •FAST AND EASY• Wit the Kit.
Big Mama and Family have tried to make their food taste good and most importantly, they have also tried to make it as healthy as they could. For instance, one thing they tried to eliminate is putting meat in their vegetables. They found that by using their mastery of Secret Seasonings instead they could make their veggies taste like veggies should taste and they’d be even healthier for you without the meat.
These seasoning methods have taken many many years for Big Mama and Family to develop. Hear me. Down south many years ago when Big Mama was cooking some greens or beans she’d just drop in there with them some fat back pork neck bones or ham hock right in there with the Secret Seasoning. Now in addition to taking the meat out of the veggies, Big Mama took the grease out of the gravy and most customers didn’t even know it. She done this with the Secret Seasoning pacs thats in the kit.