Fun
Knit to This: Michael W. Twitty
Dear Kay,
A breathtaking conversation this week, from culinary historian Michael W. Twitty.
I read The Cooking Gene: A Journey through African American Culinary History in the Old South last year, and it’s still on my bedside table. It altered the way I think about the South and Southern food and my Southern family. His book is a gift: a raw, humane, outraged, wholly original memoir.
The conversation up top (from 2017 when his book launched) gives an excellent introduction to the things that Michael W. Twitty is thinking about. He blends sharp humor with his lacerating take on the shared history of white people and the people they enslaved.
His blog, Afroculinaria, is where you will find his most recent writing about the current racial reckoning we are experiencing.
He says: “I had to carve my own niche. My goal is to become the first completely proficient Black colonial and antebellum-style chef since the Civil War. Our ancestors were not second-best caterers. They were not second-best restaurateurs and tavern owners. They were number one. In the same way that people associated laundry with Chinese immigrants, and associated other businesses with other ethnic groups, they associated excellent cooking with Black men and women. Whether they were in chains, they were people of color.”
If you’d like to hear more, The Cooking Gene is available as an audiobook at audible.com, and he is the narrator.
Love,
Ann
You must follow The Bitter Southerner!! Love it!
I guess I’m the fourth to also recommend this site.
As a bitter Southerner myself, I definitely keep up with that one.
I second that! Great writing and photographs, something interesting every week.
also highly recommended: Toni Tipton-Martin’s The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks. More of a coffee table/reference, but fascinating reading.
I second this recommendation absolutely. Tipton-Martin also has a fine cookbook out now, titled Jubilee.
Oh thank you! I listened to an interview with him, I think on the Southern Foodways Alliance podcast? (Its called Gravy) and have been meaning to check out more of his work
So much “food” for thought. Thank you for all the life-enriching gifts you leave in my inbox. I will be thinking on these things until you grab my attention with some other, but I won’t forget overhearing this conversation.
Thank you for this recommendation! I just put it on hold at my library.
Will definitely check this out. Michael W. Twitty is also on a wonderful episode of Taste the Nation (hosted by Padma Lakshmi) about Gullah Geechee food and culture. If you have Hulu I recommend the whole series… and Padma is wonderful as always.
Second this!
Great interview! Seriously good food for thought!
Wow! Sat down a moment to take a peek, and watched the entire interview. Michael Twitty is an amazing educator, I got educated and I wasn’t even looking for it. Want to read more! Thanks for another great mental chiropractic moment.
Michael is a wonderful teacher and mentor. We have co-exhibited with him at 18th century living history museums and events. Thanks so much for highlighting his contributions celebrating African American foodways.
I’ve been wanting to read this book FORVER–definitely on the list now!
Thank you. This was illuminating and relevant.
Michael Twitty is doing some of the deepest healing work around racism. I have followed his career for years now. The Cooking Gene is genuine and entertaining and educational. It gave me a new perspective on the South, my culture of origin. This is not an angry, shaming book, but something else entirely: teaching, embracing, and owning the truth of the past.
He is brilliant. Such an interesting man. He tough my kids Hebrew school most likely their favorite teacher. I so remember when he first started his journey for this book, so much travel and research. He is one of a kind!
So passionate and proud for his work and his ancestry!
Excellent recommendation. Thank you.
I saw him interviewed on an episode of Tastethe Nation – he was so interesting and engaging, the interview was brief and left me wanting to hear and read much more from him. Thank you for these references to his blog and books, I will be checking these out.
Wonderful share. He is incredible.
I read The Cooking Gene in March, at the beginning of lockdown. Extraordinary memoir and fascinating history. Thanks, all, for the links to his blog and videos.