When Sue Garrett goes to the supermarket in Alabama, she gets noticed. Strangers always come up to her, giving her hugs, offering compliments and telling her stories about their lives.

The same thing happens when this Southern grandma goes to church, to the doctor’s office, to a restaurant, to a shopping center … just about anywhere.

Garrett, 71, has become a celebrity in her home state over the past five years, beloved by more than 1 million followers who know her as Mama Sue. She’s the creator and star of Mama Sue’s Southern Kitchen, sharing recipes for down-home dishes that fill the tummy and feed the soul.

“I cook like my mother did — Southern and simple, served with a side of Jesus,” Garrett likes to say. Those three ingredients have been the keys to her success, drawing fans to her website and social media pages.

Mama Sue is on Facebook. She’s on Instagram. She’s on YouTube, Pinterest and TikTok. She has four cookbooks to her credit, an online store and more.

Although she’s not as famous as Emeril Lagasse or Paula Deen, Mama Sue’s team is working on it. Garrett was a standout, for example, during her November appearance on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” when she helped two friends from Hayden, Darien Craig and Brandon Echols, pitch their Y’all Sweet Tea brand to the TV investors.

The guys got the deal, but Mama Sue stole the show, bantering with the sharks on camera and displaying her usual warmth and charm. She even managed to coax a smile out of Kevin O’Leary, the gruff investor known as “Mr. Wonderful,” telling him the tea would likely sweeten him up.

“I’m so glad I did it, because it was a wonderful experience,” Garrett said. “I never thought I would have had that opportunity. And they laughed. I think laughed at having the Southern grandma there.”

Spend a few hours with Garrett, at her office in Helena or her home in Shelby County, and it’s easy to see why she’s captured the hearts of Southern folks and developed a devoted following throughout the United States.

Part of the attraction comes from her easy-to-follow recipes for chicken casserole, crockpot cubed steak, cornbread salad, black-eyed pea soup, pimento cheese and other homey dishes. Mama Sue’s cookbooks are chock-full of recipes like these, and all have proved popular with fans.

(Watch Mama Sue make chicken pie in the Instagram video below.)

What makes Southern food special? Garrett explained her perspective in an interview with AL.com.

“I’ve heard it called soul food,” she said. “I think it just warms your soul, because there’s a lot of love that goes into Southern cooking. It’s special to me, because it’s how I grew up on a farm. I don’t remember eating many casseroles as a child because it was vegetables and cornbread. Growing up, we didn’t go out to eat. You ate at home. You might go out for a very special occasion, but not very often. … And I’ll tell you, my mother made the best fried chicken and fried okra that I’ve ever had.”

Consider, too, that Garrett, a retired teacher and former assistant principal at Vincent Elementary School, is a natural in front of the camera. She spent more than 20 years explaining concepts to kids, and it shows in her calm, practical cooking videos.

Garrett uses everyday ingredients in her recipes — things you can find in just about any grocery store — and ordinary tools that don’t require special training or a fancy manual. She makes things clear. She inspires confidence. She’s encouraging and kind.

From start to finish, Mama Sue keeps it real.

“I don’t feel like I do everything perfect,” Garrett said. “I don’t think I’ve gotten more polished. I can remember opening up flour (in a video), and it going everywhere. But I can talk, and I can say, ‘This is life.’”

(Watch Mama Sue make Butterfinger cake in the Instagram video below.)

Garrett’s willingness to talk about life — her joys and sorrows, her family and friends — is part of Mama Sue’s deeper appeal. Her husband, Harold Garrett, a retired coach and teacher, often appears in the videos and has become a fan favorite.

Harold helps Mama Sue with the cooking chores, shares his opinions about the dishes being prepared and generally offers his support. Although he’s a reluctant celebrity, Harold is determined to help his wife, filming videos behind the scenes and chatting with her on camera.

“Here’s my evaluation of me,” Harold told AL.com. “I taught in the classroom for 25 years. I had a script every day, and I can talk from a script. I teach Sunday school, but I talk from a script. … I’m not good off-the-cuff. It’s hard for me. I’m the comic relief.”

(Watch Mama Sue and Harold make pineapple sandwiches in the YouTube video below.)

The Garretts’ dog Scout, a 12-year-old chiweenie, can also be seen in some of Mama Sue’s videos. Scout has been known to rattle his bowl and bark for treats while filming is underway, much to the delight of the little dog’s cadre of fans.

It’s a bonus, followers say, when they hear Scout’s nails tip-tapping in the kitchen during a video, as he stays close to his mama and waits for any scraps that might hit the floor.

Garrett’s family is important to her — she and Harold have two children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren — and her daughter, Amy Garrett Martin, actually came up with the idea for Mama Sue’s Southern Kitchen.

The inspiration came in 2020, Garrett said, when she was posting on her personal Facebook page during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I had a Facebook page — not for Mama Sue, just Sue Garrett, my page,“ Garrett said. ”And I don’t know why I started it. But every night, I would make a picture of what we were having to eat that night, even if it was a hot dog and chips or whatever. And people at church would say, ‘I love you doing that, because I plan next week’s menu over what you’re having.’

“In July of 2020, a farm up above Vincent, DeLoach Farms, contacted my daughter and said, ‘If we bring your mom a box of vegetables, would she let us video her cooking for advertisement?’ And I said yes, but I said, ‘Amy, I would rather you video me than somebody I don’t know.’

“They brought green beans, okra, corn, peaches … and I mentioned ‘DeLoach Farms, DeLoach Farms’ in the video,” Garrett continued. “Well, they put it on their page, and my daughter Amy put it on my personal page. That same day, people were saying, ‘We need to ask you how to cook.’ So Amy made Mama Sue’s Southern Kitchen. And it just grew like crazy.”

From the beginning, Garrett said, she knew her strong religious faith would play a role in the cooking videos, and it soon emerged as a defining factor for her on social media. Her online motto became “Be salt and light,” referencing the Bible and Matthew 5:13-16.

It’s a phrase derived from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, describing Christians as “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” Garrett often wears a necklace with a pendant bearing the words “salt and light.” She ends her videos with that sentiment, and it can be found on some of the merchandise in her store.

“Salt is a preservative and it enhances,” Garrett said. “And one thing that salt can do, when we are being the salt, is we can help other people’s light to shine and the salt to preserve their salvation. This world is so full of hurting people today. If you can just smile at someone, you never know what they’re going through.”

Garrett will be the first to tell you that her faith is paramount; she regards cooking as her ministry and a way to help others. It’s prayer in motion, with her kitchen as a church, of sorts, and her social media posts as the vehicle.

At her actual church, Vincent Revival Center, Garrett is on a “Feed the Need” team that upholds a Southern tradition, providing food to comfort people at funerals. “I always do peach cobbler,” she said.

Garrett’s faith certainly came to the fore in June 2021, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her fan base was growing at the time, along with her staff for Mama Sue’s Southern Kitchen. When she had to take a few months off from cooking during chemotherapy and surgery, Garrett didn’t hesitate to reveal her diagnosis to followers.

Her goal, Garrett said, was to be honest about her cancer journey, and provide support and encouragement to others who might be going through a serious illness.

“I knew God was going to be walking with me, when I was diagnosed with cancer,” Garrett said. “I knew He was going to heal me, but I didn’t know if it would be here or by taking me to heaven. Because that’s a healing, the ultimate healing. But Jesus tells us we’ve got to be a light to others.”

Now she’s a cancer survivor — Garrett prefers the term “cancer thriver” — and she speaks about her experiences to women’s clubs, church groups, community organizations and more.

Mama Sue believes that God has guided her steps, sometimes in surprising ways. But she’s grateful for her new lease on life and a thriving career on social media.

“God has blessed this business so much, and I think it’s because I give Him the glory,” Garrett said. “I know that He’s the reason, and people need to hear it.”

Her joyful spirit is evident in conversation — fans were all smiles when they met Garrett during a February appearance at the Birmingham Home Show — and the future of Mama Sue’s Southern Kitchen looks bright, in 2025 and beyond.

Cookbook No. 5 is in the works, Garrett said, and she’s looking forward to an open house at the office in Helena. She’s also proud to have her name on Mama Sue’s Hot Chocolate, a product launched in the fall by Y’all Sweet Tea. More TV appearances? Let’s just say national talk shows are not out of the question.

“We may think that we have it all figured out, then He takes us somewhere and shows us a whole new world that we never imagined or planned,” Garrett writes in the introduction to her fourth cookbook. “Isn’t that just like God?”