“The Cooking Gene” by Michael W. Twitty

Cover of “The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South” by Michael W. Twitty, via Bookshop.

"A renowned culinary historian offers a fresh perspective on our most divisive cultural issue, race, in this illuminating memoir of Southern cuisine and food culture that traces his ancestry both black and white--through food, from Africa to America and slavery to freedom" (Bookshop).

• Buy “The Cooking Gene” on Bookshop >
• Try “My Mother’s Heirloom Apple Crisp” from Michael W. Twitty’s website >
• On Wednesday, February 24, join Michael W. Twitty for a virtual learning series entitled “Shared Soul: A Culinary Journey from West & Central Africa to the American South With Michael Twitty” at Atlas Obscura >

Michael W. Twitty outside the original quarters of enslaved people at North Carolina's Stagville Plantation, via Garden & Gun.

Michael W. Twitty is an African-American Jewish writer, culinary historian, and educator. He is also the author of Afroculinaria, a food blog that documents the culinary traditions of Africa, African America, and the African diaspora. Since 2011, the site has documented hundreds of recipes, stories, history lessons, and reflections on the intersection of food and Black life.

In “The Cooking Gene,” Twitty weaves a culinary history that’s both generalized and deeply personal. In the book, he shares that his great-great-grandfather Elijah Mitchell saw General Robert E. Lee emerge from McLean House in Appomattox, Va., after surrendering to General Ulysses S. Grant. He was one of the first enslaved people to know that the Civil War was over (NPR). Twitty traces his ancestry and identities through food from slavery to the present-day. The book was the recipient of the 2018 James Beard Foundation Book Award for Writing and Book of the Year.

I am a big guy. I'm African-American. I'm Jewish. And I'm gay. And I feel like those are not uncommon identities, just the fact that - all in one person.

Michael W. Twitty, on The Cooking Gene, for NPR

In addition to his writing and lecturing, Twitty has appeared on several cooking shows, including Bizarre Foods America with Andrew Zimmern, Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, and Taste the Nation with Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi. His latest book, “Rice,” is now available for pre-order.

The cuisine our culture tends to celebrate is French or other European styles of cooking, while cuisine developed by communities of color is designated to simply “ethnic” food. And because the food critic space is predominantly white, it tends to accelerate that perspective. As a result, these marginalized culinary traditions – including those by the Black community – are often celebrated when they’re “discovered” by notable white chefs, not recognized for their historical significance. Michael W. Twitty’s work to preserve and celebrate the Black community's contributions to food without history is a testament to our rich, diverse, and resilient history.

“
There is no chef without a homeland.

To be a chef today is to center yourself in the traditions of your roots and use them to define your art and speak to any human being about who you are; your plate is your flag. Many of our most pungent memories are carried through food, just as connections to our ancestors are reaffirmed by cooking the dishes handed down to us. [....] Many take for granted their fast and easy connections to a food narrative that grounds them in a tradition, gives them a broad palette to explore, and affords them a genuine taste of eudaemonia, all of which is the holistic feeling of flourishing in life; and of course it is often blissfully apolitical.

Michael W. Twitty

Reflection Questions

• When you think of fine dining, what do you think of? What are the backgrounds and identities of the chefs that you celebrate?
• How do you learn about or discover the authenticity of food?
• How has food shaped your identity? What dishes represent you? What dishes were passed down through your lineage?

Learn More

• On Thursday, February 18 at 6p EST, Chef Therese Nelson joins nonprofit organization Girls Write Now to lead a conversation about Black culinary heritage and the uses of culinary heritage as fertile literary ground (Girls Write Now)
• "6 Black Chefs (and 1 Inventor) Who Changed the History of Food" (NYTimes)
• "How Enslaved Chefs Helped Shape American Cuisine" (Smithsonian Magazine)
• "African American Chefs You Should Know" (National Museum of African American History and Culture)