{"product_id":"the-cooking-gene-a-journey-through-african-american-culinary-history-in-the-old-south-9780062379276","title":"The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e2018 James Beard Foundation Book of the Year 2018 James Beard Foundation Book Award Winner in Writing Nominee for the 2018 Hurston\/Wright Legacy Award in Nonfiction #75 on The Root 100 2018\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA renowned culinary historian offers a fresh perspective on our most divisive cultural issue, race, in this illuminating culinary 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSouthern food is integral to the American culinary tradition, yet the question of who \"owns\" it is one of the most provocative touch points in our ongoing struggles over race. In this unique memoir, culinary historian Michael W. Twitty takes readers to the white-hot center of this fight, tracing the roots of his own family and the charged politics surrounding the origins of soul food, barbecue, and all Southern cuisine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the tobacco and rice farms of colonial times to plantation kitchens and backbreaking cotton fields, Twitty tells his family story through the foods that enabled his ancestors' survival across three centuries. He sifts through stories, recipes, genetic tests, and historical documents, and travels from Civil War battlefields in Virginia to synagogues in Alabama to Black-owned organic farms in Georgia in his search for American culinary history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs he takes us through his ancestral culinary history, Twitty suggests that healing may come from embracing the discomfort of the Southern past. Along the way, he reveals a truth that is more than skin deep--the power that food has to bring the kin of the enslaved and their former slaveholders to the table, where they can discover the real America together.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIllustrations by Stephen Crotts\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this James Beard Book of the Year, Twitty presents a riveting exploration of American identity, offering: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA Groundbreaking Culinary Memoir: \u003c\/b\u003e Follow a renowned culinary historian on his personal journey, tracing his family story from Africa to America and from slavery to freedom through food.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eSouthern Food and Race: \u003c\/b\u003e Go to the white-hot center of the fight over who \"owns\" Southern food, exposing the charged politics surrounding the origins of soul food, barbecue, and regional cuisine.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eDeep Ancestral Research: \u003c\/b\u003e Sift through compelling stories, family recipes, genetic tests, and historical documents on travels from Civil War battlefields in Virginia to synagogues in Alabama.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eA Path Toward Healing: \u003c\/b\u003e Discover the power food has to bring the kin of the enslaved and their former slaveholders to the table, where they can embrace the discomfort of the past and find the real America together.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTwitty, Michael W.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eMichael W. Twitty is a noted culinary and cultural historian and the creator of \u003cem\u003eAfroculinaria\u003c\/em\u003e, the first blog devoted to African American historic foodways and their legacies. He has been honored by FirstWeFeast.com as one of the twenty greatest food bloggers of all time, and named one of the \"Fifty People Who Are Changing the South\" by \u003cem\u003eSouthern Living\u003c\/em\u003e and one of the \"Five Cheftavists to Watch\" by TakePart.com. Twitty has appeared throughout the media, including on NPR's \u003cem\u003eThe Splendid Table\u003c\/em\u003e, and has given more than 250 talks in the United States and abroad. His work has appeared in \u003cem\u003eEbony\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eGuardian\u003c\/em\u003e, and on NPR.org. He is also a Smith fellow with the Southern Foodways Alliance, a TED fellow and speaker, and the first Revolutionary in Residence at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Twitty lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Amistad Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50593434173714,"sku":"9780062379276","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_d813aa89-1bc3-49f9-be23-bca556ee364c.jpg?v=1772531447","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-cooking-gene-a-journey-through-african-american-culinary-history-in-the-old-south-9780062379276","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}