Name: The Cooking Gene
ISBN: 9780062379290

Michael Twitty

"A memoir of Southern cuisine and food culture that traces the paths of the author's ancestors (black and white) through the crucible of slavery to show its effects on our food today"--

A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South

The Cooking Gene

Michael W. Twitty

Sarah Sammis

I listened to the audiobook version read by the author. He does an excellent job of narrating his work. But with so much covered in this book, especially with words I'm not familiar with, I want to re-read this book in print either a physical copy or an ebook. I'm personally leaning towards ebook to make highlighting easier.

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Laura

In the weeks since I have read this book I have struggled with how best to review it. For me the core of the Cooking Gene, for me as a Jewish American, this has been the best Jewish book I have read in a long time. As Jews we are lucky to have so many incredible people in our community, including the author. Although I think this book is important for all Americans, because it traces how interconnected we are and parts of our history our fellow Americans may prefer to ignore, I think it’s particularly important for the Jewish community to read. Although many American Jews are Ashkanazi, we did not all come to this country through New York and understanding the rest of our community is so important. Mr. Twitty is such a great role model for us all and I hope we continue to get to learn from him.

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. Southern 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. From 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. As 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. Illustrations by Stephen Crotts

The Cooking Gene A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South

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