I think she was important because she brought that farm-to-table consciousness to southern food. I met her in the '80s at Middleton Place, on what was a slow afternoon. We got to talking about things I actually had in common with her, experiences I had with my own southern grandmothers. Picking wild persimmons for pudding, the way to make blackberry cobblers and pies in a wood stove, and so on. I had no idea who she was but she was generous with her time. I bought the book and have read it several times.
9
I've had her cookbooks for years and use them constantly. One of my favorite recipes is her cream of crooked neck squash soup. In fact I've adapted many of her recipes to use in my Maine blog, www.thegoldendish.com. I just made her smothered chicken for tonight's dinner--a wonderfully simple dish with loads of flavor.
6
RE: It was built on local ingredients — many originally shared by Native Americans or brought by slaves from Africa — and developed by enslaved black chefs like James Hemings, who cooked for Thomas Jefferson at Monticello.
I doubt there were "many" ingredients brought by from Africa by slaves. Yams and vanilla are African but those would have been imported by traders. I doubt that the slaves brought any personal property (except maybe the clothes on their backs) with them. Esp. food or herbs or spices that probably would not have lasted the voyage.
Otherwise interesting article.
I doubt there were "many" ingredients brought by from Africa by slaves. Yams and vanilla are African but those would have been imported by traders. I doubt that the slaves brought any personal property (except maybe the clothes on their backs) with them. Esp. food or herbs or spices that probably would not have lasted the voyage.
Otherwise interesting article.
3
My understanding, growing up, was that okra seeds were brought by slaves and planted in their quarters. I would imagine that anything from home that could be brought with them, did.
6
There's no denigration of Edna Lewis or the contributions of black heritage to Southern cooking in finding this article a little hyperbolic.
How about "The Aztec and Incan Roots of Pakistani Cooking"? Sound silly? It's perfectly true, of course; daal or lobia without tomatoes and chlies? Aloo gosht without potatoes?
Why does the NY TImes keep hammering on the race drum for everything? Were poor white settlers in the South gormless and starving until black women taught them to mix flour and soured milk and lo, it was breakfast and it was good?
When you try to make a point by making half of an equation invisible, you are being profoundly dishonest.
Much of the tragedy of the South comes from two disenfranchised peoples--blacks and impoverished whites--manipulated into being antagonists rather than allies. The Scotch-Irish had to make use of every scrap that might be remotely considered edible, just as slaves and then former slaves did. It's the synthesis of these cultures that produced the recipes Edna Lewis grew up on, perfected and adapted for Northern middle- and upper-class tastes that found them a revelation.
She was the perfect confluence of literary and culinary gifts and the graciousness of the born hostess. Clearly she was always given credit for that. But Southern cooking is only one of many regional cuisines in our diverse nation.
How about "The Aztec and Incan Roots of Pakistani Cooking"? Sound silly? It's perfectly true, of course; daal or lobia without tomatoes and chlies? Aloo gosht without potatoes?
Why does the NY TImes keep hammering on the race drum for everything? Were poor white settlers in the South gormless and starving until black women taught them to mix flour and soured milk and lo, it was breakfast and it was good?
When you try to make a point by making half of an equation invisible, you are being profoundly dishonest.
Much of the tragedy of the South comes from two disenfranchised peoples--blacks and impoverished whites--manipulated into being antagonists rather than allies. The Scotch-Irish had to make use of every scrap that might be remotely considered edible, just as slaves and then former slaves did. It's the synthesis of these cultures that produced the recipes Edna Lewis grew up on, perfected and adapted for Northern middle- and upper-class tastes that found them a revelation.
She was the perfect confluence of literary and culinary gifts and the graciousness of the born hostess. Clearly she was always given credit for that. But Southern cooking is only one of many regional cuisines in our diverse nation.
4
What a magnificent essay and tribute this is. I inhaled it like a delicious dessert. Francis Lam, you write like a dream. I'm mournful that I never got to taste Edna Lewis's ethereal food.
There's a fabulous children's picture book by Robbin Gourley that channels Lewis's spirit as a girl: Bring Me Some Apples and I'll Make You a Pie: A Story About Edna Lewis (Clarion, 2009). If ever a book made you yearn to live in the country, this nostalgic paean to Lewis is it.
My review:
When the whippoorwill calls, it is the song young Edna has been awaiting. "I'm ready for a taste of spring," she announces. She and her sister set out to pick first-of-season wild strawberries. There will be strawberry shortcake tonight. As the seasons roll, she and her family gather wild greens; pick cherries and wild blackberries; eat watermelon and spit the seeds; and harvest many other crops. For each, someone in the family spouts a homily, a rhyme, or a song, plus a suggestion of what they plan to do with it. Auntie sighs, “Peaches! Pure as angels. Sweet as love.” Granny says, “Melons are just like friends. Gotta try ten before you get a good one.” Soft but sensible watercolors depict a close-knit African American farm family appreciating their bounty. As Edna says, “You can never have too much summer.”
At the back of the book, you’ll find Lewis’s recipe for strawberry shortcake and three other recipes. Everything about this story will make you hungry.
There's a fabulous children's picture book by Robbin Gourley that channels Lewis's spirit as a girl: Bring Me Some Apples and I'll Make You a Pie: A Story About Edna Lewis (Clarion, 2009). If ever a book made you yearn to live in the country, this nostalgic paean to Lewis is it.
My review:
When the whippoorwill calls, it is the song young Edna has been awaiting. "I'm ready for a taste of spring," she announces. She and her sister set out to pick first-of-season wild strawberries. There will be strawberry shortcake tonight. As the seasons roll, she and her family gather wild greens; pick cherries and wild blackberries; eat watermelon and spit the seeds; and harvest many other crops. For each, someone in the family spouts a homily, a rhyme, or a song, plus a suggestion of what they plan to do with it. Auntie sighs, “Peaches! Pure as angels. Sweet as love.” Granny says, “Melons are just like friends. Gotta try ten before you get a good one.” Soft but sensible watercolors depict a close-knit African American farm family appreciating their bounty. As Edna says, “You can never have too much summer.”
At the back of the book, you’ll find Lewis’s recipe for strawberry shortcake and three other recipes. Everything about this story will make you hungry.
7
I was fortunate enough to dine at Gage & Tollner when Edna Lewis was chef - by this time she was a bit of a celebrity and appeared in the dining room briefly as customers nodded their appreciation. Yes, she did have presence. I have never forgotten it, and this article pays homage to a chef who should be as well remembered as any other. I suppose it she had had a show on PBS she might be. I recently purchased the Jemima Code and the contributions of black folks to the culinary history of the US cannot be disputed. Not that I didn't know it as many of my ancestors spent years cooking in private homes. I am proud of this heritage, despite some readers taken offense to significant contribution of blacks to American cuisine.
6
Wonderful story. I'd only add, not as a criticism but as an addition, that Southern cooking, black and white has been alive and well in New Orleans for years. I worked for Paul Prudhomme, who cannot be left out of the line up for Southern cooks who brought Southern cuisine to the masses. He too came from a very poor, albeit white Cajun family, of sharecroppers who lived off the land. His cooking was and still is the epitome of Southern food, farm to table. Chef didn't like his cooking labeled "Cajun". He preferred to call it American. And Leah Chase has been cooking and serving up Southern food for decades at her restaurant Dooky Chases. Nothing takes away from Miss Lewis' contributions and it's long overdue for chefs like her to get their recognition!!! Bravo!!
4
A wonderful and important article about this glorious woman who understood life and cooking to a deep degree and imparted her knowledge to others.
But please remove the phony and demeaning photos - the broken egg on a tablecloth, the biscuit without a plate - is this a subtle racism going on? - that even though she is a major cook, her favorite thing was breaking an egg by banging it on a table top?
These photos are not worthy of this well-written article , and even more so, not worthy of this elegant woman and chef. Next time don't hire as a photographer someone's close personal friend because I cannot see otherwise how such hackneyed, art school freshman photos got published.
But please remove the phony and demeaning photos - the broken egg on a tablecloth, the biscuit without a plate - is this a subtle racism going on? - that even though she is a major cook, her favorite thing was breaking an egg by banging it on a table top?
These photos are not worthy of this well-written article , and even more so, not worthy of this elegant woman and chef. Next time don't hire as a photographer someone's close personal friend because I cannot see otherwise how such hackneyed, art school freshman photos got published.
5
I have been blessed to have a many Edna Lewis like black women in my family tree. Lord God could they cook from cooking lessons learned from our family roots in Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. I did not know nor was I aware of Edna Lewis. But I knew her dignified wise beautiful strong confident humble humane type.
2
My thanks for this article, especially for the elegant calmness and clarity of the accompanying photos, which present the simplest foods as marvels in themselves which do not need to be dramatized by bright lights and lurid colors.
2
I met Edna Lewis when I worked at Middleton Place in the 1980s. I am not a cook; we didn't discuss cooking. Yet I always enjoyed talking with her. I found her presence to be awesome--warm, beautiful, intelligent, friendly, regal. I assumed she was decades younger than her actual age. And yes, her cooking was great.
2
The Taste of Country Cooking (Lewis's masterpiece) and The Gift of Southern Cooking (with Scott Peacock) are in my library. I could not manage without them. Yet I'd never heard of Ms. Lewis until I moved to Maine twenty years ago. Upon returning to my native Georgia recently, I began introducing her to Southern family and friends. Edna Lewis is America's greatest gift to quality food prepared with love.
1
A fascinating story...it would make a great film. Screenwriters, where are you?
1
I loved this article, as well as reading these lovely stories written by NY Times readers.
I feel the need to say about the accompanying photographs: they are tremendously sublime. I have to disagree with those who say these photographs make a negative statement about Southern poverty. I'm a baker and a photographer, and I would be overjoyed if either my recipes or my photographs carried such a quiet elegance.
I feel the need to say about the accompanying photographs: they are tremendously sublime. I have to disagree with those who say these photographs make a negative statement about Southern poverty. I'm a baker and a photographer, and I would be overjoyed if either my recipes or my photographs carried such a quiet elegance.
1
The title is a silly question, and a side issue. We all know the answer.
Just give her the credit. And demand it be recognized.
Just give her the credit. And demand it be recognized.
Loved this article. I hope the world now knows about Ms. Lewis, her accomplishments and rich legacy. I became aware of her 20 years or so ago. I have a dog-eared copy of Mr. Peacock's book with their recipes. As the child of two southern parents, one from Louisiana and the other from Alabama, food was love. There wasn't much money, but there was always good, nourishing food on the table! This article reminded me again of the love of family at the table.
1
I first ate Chef Lewis' food at Gage and Tolner, a brilliant and landmarked restaurant. We saw each other in passing many times and without question her she-crab soup was what dreams are made of. I miss it and Chef Lewis today and will for the rest of my life. Yes, she was underrated by some and loved by many.
2
This was a great tribute to an iconic American chef. To complete the story, I'm dismayed that the author didn't acknowledge the importance of the friendship and partnership with Scott Peacock, a dynamic chef and food historian in his own right. Together, he and Edna coauthored a beautiful cookbook, "The Gift of Southern Cooking" in which they collaborated on authentic Southern recipes. He was a true friend to her in her last years and certainly should be credited as one of her most loyal devotees.
3
How not encompassing, Italian, German, French, Polish, and more...
Cooking too, is the result of the Melting Pot
Cooking too, is the result of the Melting Pot
2
I truly respect skill and craft, but I am so sick of authors/speakers trying to assign something to only one group/race/nationality/gender and then building some dubious social theory. Be it African-American invented American cooking or the Irish saved Civilization. Enough of this nonsense.
4
I learned about Edna Lewis while at The Fearrington House in North Carolina, where she spent time as a guest chef. Her chocolate souffle is still served there in her honor. In fact, owner R.B. Fitch, whose late wife Jenny worked with Edna, so prizes this recipe that it's the only thing that he won't allow to Chef Colin Bedford to change on the menu. It is a delicious, decadent ending to a great meal!
The portrait is good. But as some have noted the food photo could be better.
This is the best piece I've read in the Times for a long time...
2
I'm also weirded out by the terrible styling in the food pictures.
Edna Lewis is so strikingly elegant in every picture. These images - are they trying to reference her childhood? - do not do her legacy justice.
Edna Lewis is so strikingly elegant in every picture. These images - are they trying to reference her childhood? - do not do her legacy justice.
5
I was not aware of Edna Lewis until this; neither was I aware of the confluence of French influence with available foods and other traditions brought to cooking by black women. What's most impressive - this woman who directed her own life and succeeded in leaving a legacy.
5
My neighbor grew up in a similar former slave community in Maryland. I don't think there were any pleasant memories living off the land. When they ate chicken, two adults and five children, he got the same piece, a wing. Farm life didn't appeal to him so he did the foraging for the family (another word for poaching). When a family in the community fell on hard times, the kids were moved to other families or relatives, to be raised and fed. He took me to visit and showed me the vine-covered home he grew up in. Black faces peered at us from behind curtains in other houses. He said white folk don't come here and if they do, it's usually bad news. There were no jobs and kids could not wait to move away. The folks that stayed were too poor to leave and were under constant threat of losing their property due to unpaid property taxes. Any improvements raised their taxes. He had no sense of history, there wasn't anything he wanted to remember. He was truly surprised that I was interested. As far as food, his favorite was instant ramen, a taste he acquired in prison.
6
Re all those lists of African-origin foods: yes, once they arrived in the New World and became country staples, everyone learned to cook them and put their own stamp on them--blacks and whites.
Until the discovery of the New World, East Indians knew nothing of potatoes, of tomatoes, of chilies. Now "aloo ghosht" (potatoes and meat) is as basic a dish on the subcontinent as any indigenous food ever was. And try to imagine an Indian or Pakistani meal without green chilies...
Or try to imagine an English Christmas without gingerbread.
There's no such thing as "authentic" food anywhere, unless you mean the original Paleo diet eaten by our cave-dwelling ancestors. Every culture adopts and adapts whatever wonderful new ingredient it's introduced to...
Edna Lewis was special not because she brought "black" food to "white" Americans, but because she had a particular gift for transmitting the history of a regional food culture; was skilled at preparing it; and had the good fortune to be in a time and place where her talents and interests were welcomed. Many people who came before her and were contemporaneous to her were as gifted at cooking Southern food, but remained anonymous.
Until the discovery of the New World, East Indians knew nothing of potatoes, of tomatoes, of chilies. Now "aloo ghosht" (potatoes and meat) is as basic a dish on the subcontinent as any indigenous food ever was. And try to imagine an Indian or Pakistani meal without green chilies...
Or try to imagine an English Christmas without gingerbread.
There's no such thing as "authentic" food anywhere, unless you mean the original Paleo diet eaten by our cave-dwelling ancestors. Every culture adopts and adapts whatever wonderful new ingredient it's introduced to...
Edna Lewis was special not because she brought "black" food to "white" Americans, but because she had a particular gift for transmitting the history of a regional food culture; was skilled at preparing it; and had the good fortune to be in a time and place where her talents and interests were welcomed. Many people who came before her and were contemporaneous to her were as gifted at cooking Southern food, but remained anonymous.
10
Edna Lewis was one of the people who taught me how to cook when I was a child.
Ms. Lewis used to cook for the Evangeline Peterson as Judith Jones accurately recalls. "Pete" as she was known then, was married to Donald Rugoff who owned the Rugoff art theaters, mostly on the East Side of Manhattan.
I went through the African Wing with Edna Lewis as anthropology was one of my obsessions as a child and I had blabbed on about Robert Ardrey and African Genesis, Carl Akeley and the African Hall and more. Edna taught me how to bone a chicken leg and make it a wild mushroom sausage. She taught me how to set aside the coral for the sauce of her exemplary Lobster American.
We last saw each other at the 14th Street Farmers Market where I introduced her to my wife and we talked about thyme -how it is best used to impart its flavor and kept as an old bush, not how quickly it passes.
She was a proud and wonderful person and great chef with an innate understanding of how nature builds food and how to best preserve and convey its best and highest taste. She understood that a great meal not only tastes delicious but feels delicious and imbues the diners with an afterglow.
The comments about food appearance and the photo styling here seem unfortunately conditioned by two decades of food writing and aesthetic that seems better suited for hair and nails vocational grooming academy.
Ms. Lewis used to cook for the Evangeline Peterson as Judith Jones accurately recalls. "Pete" as she was known then, was married to Donald Rugoff who owned the Rugoff art theaters, mostly on the East Side of Manhattan.
I went through the African Wing with Edna Lewis as anthropology was one of my obsessions as a child and I had blabbed on about Robert Ardrey and African Genesis, Carl Akeley and the African Hall and more. Edna taught me how to bone a chicken leg and make it a wild mushroom sausage. She taught me how to set aside the coral for the sauce of her exemplary Lobster American.
We last saw each other at the 14th Street Farmers Market where I introduced her to my wife and we talked about thyme -how it is best used to impart its flavor and kept as an old bush, not how quickly it passes.
She was a proud and wonderful person and great chef with an innate understanding of how nature builds food and how to best preserve and convey its best and highest taste. She understood that a great meal not only tastes delicious but feels delicious and imbues the diners with an afterglow.
The comments about food appearance and the photo styling here seem unfortunately conditioned by two decades of food writing and aesthetic that seems better suited for hair and nails vocational grooming academy.
10
Oh dear. I love the photos. Each, a perfectly composed still life that praises the perfect, utter simplicity of the ingredients -- an egg...triplets of beet...a tender crumb of biscuit...the glistering pears. Honorable readers, please get a grip.
3
The pictures were interestin - I knew that all y'all Yankees are not as adept as us Southerners at cookin, but how do you use eggs that you crack directly on the table...we usually use a bowl, less messy and more hygienic.
6
Maybe it's because my Maman's from France, but I never learned to crack eggs on anything but the bowl growing up.
1
I'm originally from the Caribbean, but have been here for most of my life. I'd heard of Edna Lewis before, but I learned so much. Thank you!
5
I grew up in the south; my grandfather, grandmother, my ex-wife, mother-in-law, and brothers-in-law (and my daughter) are all from Kentucky. I learned to cook from my grandmother and my mother—black-eyed peas, hushpuppies, cornbread, spoonbread, biscuits, fried chicken, rabbit, collards, turnip greens, kale, mustard greens, pot roasts, stews, pulled pork, pork chops, ’tater salad, cherry pie, cakes… and their cooking can be traced back to both former slaves and English-/Irish-/Scots-Americans (with other influences adopted along the way).
No racial or ethnic group can claim American cooking as theirs alone (though American blacks have arguably had the biggest impact); nowhere are we as a people more of a melting pot than in our collective American pots.
No racial or ethnic group can claim American cooking as theirs alone (though American blacks have arguably had the biggest impact); nowhere are we as a people more of a melting pot than in our collective American pots.
10
My family is from Harlan Kentucky and there are still places around that area that do not have running water and indoor bathrooms. And my relatives still cook all the great foods you list. Something I miss are shuck beans which I've not had since my mother died. I often thought it would be great to be able to order hillbilly food online that you just aren't going to find in other places. I'm glad both blacks and whites got to eat such great food.
Terrific article. Coastal GA parents growing up near Orlando, too young to drive, I'd hunt wild rabbits in nearby woods with a single shot 20 gauge. Cleaned whole, stuffed like a bird with a skewer through the ribs to hold it tight, baked slowly, covered, in a lemon garlic thyme butter...and it fell off the bone. Great memories of a respectful celebration. I'm lucky my that my middle class didn't required it, but if I brought it home, it was dinner. Same for the snook, bass, quail, deer and duck that continue to grace the table. Our 2 boys are learning the same to hopefully teach the following generation.
6
My first cookbook came from Edna Lewis when I was 8 years old. I remember her in my mother's gallery in Manhattan regal and wicked, laughing and the utter embodiment of a woman at ease with herself. In 1977 I wanted to grow up to be like her and my mother, I still do.
10
I still remember the day a small family group was touring Middleton Place and had lunch there. I ordered the cheese souffle and found it wonderful -- the best I had ever had. The waitress pointed to the regal-looking woman sitting at a table in the corner and told me that this woman, Edna Lewis, was the inspiration for ALL their recipes. I didn't have the nerve to go over and thank her, but I went right out and purchased her cookbook, and have been making her cheese souffle ever since. What a treasure Edna Lewis was! Thank you for this article!
11
It has been said that Black History is American history. Here is another example.
13
Wonderful article. Love the book. But where on earth can we find lard today? and what kind of lard? Pork? Beef? Which animal works best in which dish?
Here in Chicago lard is easily found in Latino neighborhood markets, or in supermarkets with a significant number of Latino customers.
Winn-Dixie carries it.
Lard is rendered pork fat, since pigs are the mainstay animals of the south. (Beef fat is called suet.) Smithfield (the ham people) sells it. You can also purchase lard at Latino markets, or try making it yourself. In today's DIY world, I'm sure there are instructions on how to render lard on the internet. I've done it myself, basically melting leaf lard it in a pot. The leftover skin from rendering is what cracklings are. Have fun!
1
From the time she married, my sister made of tradition of a pan of biscuits on Sunday mornings. Served with butter and jam - usually some kind of berry. By the time her sons were famished teenagers, the word was out and all their growing friends with big appetites would somehow magically appear at the house on Sunday mornings. One pan routinely morphed into two.
Biscuits have been part of my family's culinary past for at least three generations, and even now I am surprised at how keenly guests will watch when I whip up a twenty-knead batch and serve them hot from the oven - it's like the whole process is from a foreign land.
But maybe it is - my great-grandmother, who came to Northern Saskatchewan , Canada in 1913 from Oklahoma would have been THE reason this card carrying Canuck family regards southern buttermilk biscuits as part of their regular diet.
My great-grandmother's roots extended back to Virginia - I know this because I am not only a biscuit maker but also a genealogist. Wouldn't it be interesting to trace the history of the biscuit?
Biscuits have been part of my family's culinary past for at least three generations, and even now I am surprised at how keenly guests will watch when I whip up a twenty-knead batch and serve them hot from the oven - it's like the whole process is from a foreign land.
But maybe it is - my great-grandmother, who came to Northern Saskatchewan , Canada in 1913 from Oklahoma would have been THE reason this card carrying Canuck family regards southern buttermilk biscuits as part of their regular diet.
My great-grandmother's roots extended back to Virginia - I know this because I am not only a biscuit maker but also a genealogist. Wouldn't it be interesting to trace the history of the biscuit?
13
A long time personal hero! Such a beautiful piece and a very moving tribute.
10
A very nice essay, and thank you. For those of you interested in reading more about Edna Lewis and African American food ways you might have a look at "Dethroning the Deceitful Pork Chop" (just published), Doris Witt's "Black Hunger", Psyche Williams-Forson's "Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs"--all book length. Barnard's Quandra Prettyman led many to Edna Lewis in Southern Quarterly twenty-plus years ago.
And of course read Miss Lewis herself!
And of course read Miss Lewis herself!
5
The Beard Awards have not ignored black authors entirely. In 2014 Adrian Miller's book Soul Food (mentioned in this fine article) won one.
3
It would seem obvious that southern cooking was created by, contributed to, and enjoyed by both black and white southerners. While acknowledging that the relationships between blacks and whites were shaped by unfair and immoral power relationships, it is also the case that in this realm, both white and black shared the same tastes and influenced each other. Southern cooking cannot be appropriated as the possession of either race, and should be celebrated as one area in which both races share.
11
This is a bit like Art Blakey's assertion that Jazz had (to paraphrase) 'nothing to do with Africa'. The origin is a synthesis. However, the lion's share of impetus for Jazz was African-American absorption and reaction to White music. Accordingly, it seems logical that American cuisine might have evolved and spread in a similar fashion. In either case, credit to the progenitors was slow in coming, and the White practitioners have always had the jump on gaining recognition and wealth from their work.
1
I'm not sure there is an agreed upon list of recipes that constitutes "our national cuisine." I grew up in central Pennsylvania, my family having arrived there from Germany in the 1730s. Virtually everything I, and most everybody else who grew up in that part of PA, thought of as being typically "American" was, in fact, either directly inherited from, or an evolved form of, the Pennsylvania Dutch recipes of our forebears.
14
The point is that those who enslaved a people were also our first forebears, who then had slaves in their kitchens creating the roots of foods imbedded very early in culture. Yes, my German ancestors arrivefd in Pennsylvania at the same time as yours and ate as you say and some of that fare lives on in our family. But it doesn't permeate U.S. food culture. My ancestors also farmed, but unlike those who settled Freetown, my ancestors worked their own farms while the settlers of Freetown built the South and elsewhere for nothing. Albeit, my ancestors had it rough, but they were a free people.
6
I agree with you. It is a southern regional food, but we have many regions and foods here. I grew up in NYC with mostly Jewish food and some Chinese food. This is American also, where would we be without the bagel?
Wonderful article about a deserving subject. As a fourth-generation Georgian, I am well-aware and in awe of Edna Lewis' legacy.
But the pictures gave me pause. I will not go so far as to say that they are offensive, but I'm wary of the subtext here. The sickly blueish-greenish tint, the deliberate sloppiness - they strive to be "down home" but rather come off as making a negative statement about being black and poor in the South. I am not looking for glamour shots of food....but please, this is tone-deaf.
But the pictures gave me pause. I will not go so far as to say that they are offensive, but I'm wary of the subtext here. The sickly blueish-greenish tint, the deliberate sloppiness - they strive to be "down home" but rather come off as making a negative statement about being black and poor in the South. I am not looking for glamour shots of food....but please, this is tone-deaf.
15
When did meat and potatoes become cuisine!
3
I almost hate to write anything about southern cooking because it might become popular and cease to be southern cooking!
Most people have been eating the basics for decades and just never thought of it as "southern".
Its always mocked as "un healthy".....all while consuming massive amounts of pasta(carbohydrates) and breaded meats of various preparations and using olive oil(healthy...while all other oils are inexplicably labeled "unhealthy")
....
the real health crisis began with the introduction of High Fructose Corn Syrup into our food supply in the late 1970s!!!
It would seem as obvious as the noses on our faces, but as far as I know not one single medical institution has dared make the obvious connection.
the increasing consumpiton of HCFS is in exact parallel to the increase in obesity and diabetes!!
From Africa: okra, yams, the basic recipes for gumbo, meals in a pot(ie....low country boil, oh yeah!!) RICE.
Add the first american cooking techniques and recipes.......grits, cornbread, biscuits(frybread), pumpkins, field peas, squash, potatoes, succotash, fried meats, grilled meats....to include BBQ.
Now you got some serious Southern Cookin.
Most people have been eating the basics for decades and just never thought of it as "southern".
Its always mocked as "un healthy".....all while consuming massive amounts of pasta(carbohydrates) and breaded meats of various preparations and using olive oil(healthy...while all other oils are inexplicably labeled "unhealthy")
....
the real health crisis began with the introduction of High Fructose Corn Syrup into our food supply in the late 1970s!!!
It would seem as obvious as the noses on our faces, but as far as I know not one single medical institution has dared make the obvious connection.
the increasing consumpiton of HCFS is in exact parallel to the increase in obesity and diabetes!!
From Africa: okra, yams, the basic recipes for gumbo, meals in a pot(ie....low country boil, oh yeah!!) RICE.
Add the first american cooking techniques and recipes.......grits, cornbread, biscuits(frybread), pumpkins, field peas, squash, potatoes, succotash, fried meats, grilled meats....to include BBQ.
Now you got some serious Southern Cookin.
4
Chiming in re the photographs here--do Southerners of any ethnicity not routinely eat on plates?
Presentation to someone as clearly elegant as Ms. Lewis would have been an inseparable part of even the simplest meal.
But as to not giving black people credit, as some other commenters seem to believe is the nefarious intent of yet other commenters: Southern food is the food of blacks AND whites from the South, just as much Ashkenazi Jewish cooking is Polish or Russian or Ukrainian or German cooking, modified to reflect the requirements of kashruth. I was surprised to learn, myself, that "knish" was actually a Ukrainian word. Who knew?
Just as many white Southerners obtained what became cherished family recipes through the capable black women who worked in their homes, plenty of black women--especially young girls--were likely trained by capable white women--especially older ones--to make individual family specialties. These people and their culinary histories are inextricable.
Presentation to someone as clearly elegant as Ms. Lewis would have been an inseparable part of even the simplest meal.
But as to not giving black people credit, as some other commenters seem to believe is the nefarious intent of yet other commenters: Southern food is the food of blacks AND whites from the South, just as much Ashkenazi Jewish cooking is Polish or Russian or Ukrainian or German cooking, modified to reflect the requirements of kashruth. I was surprised to learn, myself, that "knish" was actually a Ukrainian word. Who knew?
Just as many white Southerners obtained what became cherished family recipes through the capable black women who worked in their homes, plenty of black women--especially young girls--were likely trained by capable white women--especially older ones--to make individual family specialties. These people and their culinary histories are inextricable.
29
White folks role in that mix is that of taste maker, not cook. As the story asserts, high Southern cuisine is a mix of Continental pretension and New World necessity honed by African American cooks. The subsistence cooking practiced by poor whites would have never made it into the mix because they weren't doing the cooking for the wealthy. So, yes, the history of Southern food is mixed inextricably as you say but I'd argue the engine and ingenuity behind it, as it is understood outside the South, belongs to African Americans.
With her book, I will cook out of love and in tribute to the women who loved and raised me.
2
This is an outstanding article. Francis Lam deftly describes how Edna Lewis's cookbook presents a way of life created by freed slaves as wholesome. As presented by Ms Lam, Miss Lewis saw the life she lived in Freetown, Va, as that of a people making a life that was not without problems but was not ignoble. The freed slaves of Freetown understood that being employed as farmers as a means of making a living without being dependent on working for whites. They understood that being self-employed provided a freedom of movement and living that working for someone else did not.
The philosophical disagreement of Du Bois and Washington on how the freed slave and black Americans could best prosper in the United States is still preventing black Americans from seeing that there is a need for both education and physical labor in order to become independent; that is, not being dependent on white employers for employment. In other words, create your own business.
The philosophical disagreement of Du Bois and Washington on how the freed slave and black Americans could best prosper in the United States is still preventing black Americans from seeing that there is a need for both education and physical labor in order to become independent; that is, not being dependent on white employers for employment. In other words, create your own business.
6
MR Lam. Not all food history journalists are women.
1
The photos are painful and off-putting. They do not belong with the otherwise excellent article.
13
There is an excellent film 2006 biography of Ms, Lewis by filmmaker Bailey Barash.
4
I love to cook and I am a white Southerner. My roots are definitely southern from the Eastern part of Texas populated by many Black slaves before Emancipation. In the 30's my mother hired a Black woman who helped out in role of "nanny", but at that time meant she was expected to do everything including cooking. My grandparents employed a Black woman, Anna, who cooked a big country noon meal every day for their family. These women had very little compensation. Our menu included local, farm raised squash, onions, tomatoes, okra, black-eyed peas and other field peas, green beans, collard greens, mustard greens, turnips and turnip greens, new potatoes and sweet potatoes, lots of pork and chicken. Bacon fat was used for almost all vegetables or butter. During my professional life my office mates decided to have an "ethnic" lunch at work. One of my contributions was collard and turnip greens cooked with salt pork. A Black woman colleague pulled me aside and said "you know we say that we are the only ones who know how to cook "greens', but yours are just as good as "ours". It gave me a chance to give credit to all the Black women in my personal history who had influenced , either directly or indirectly my learning to cook. I am so pleased to read this article about Edna Lewis. The other recent article by Toni Tipton-Martin was very interesting, but left me with an ache for more to be said about Edna Lewis. Thank you for shining the spotlight on her!
12
Fascinating...but I'm baffled how this failed to mention the U.S. Postal Service commemorated her contributions to American cuisine with a stamp issued last year, alongside Julia Child and James Beard:
http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2014/pr14_050.htm
http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2014/pr14_050.htm
23
This is a beautifully written tribute, but as a photographer, I must tell you that I am appalled by the accompanying images. They're dreadful. The lighting, the styling, all of it -- rubbish! And that unpressed, greasy tablecloth? Neither my African American nor my Irish grandmother would have permitted such a thing!
38
Wondering why many people here have decided to defend their white heritage ("Scotch-Irish brought fried chicken to this country", "my poor white grandma made melt in your mouth biscuits", "my grandaddy could fricassee the best squirrel you ever tasted") while commenting on this article...Is there nothing that's not about you? It's like giving black people credit for anything good is going to kill you...
61
These are not my American roots but the black's roots. Why would people care?
I'm just glad to have good recipes.
I'm just glad to have good recipes.
1
Agreed!
Because the sub title is wrong: "The chef and author made the case for black
Southern cooking as the foundation of our national cuisine." Our national cuisine if there is one is a melting pot (pun intended) and not dominated by one culture. And sorry to be historically accurate but the majority of Southern cuisine is predominately white cuisine. People are just tired of the NYT constantly pushing their PC agenda in many articles even ones on cooking!
Southern cooking as the foundation of our national cuisine." Our national cuisine if there is one is a melting pot (pun intended) and not dominated by one culture. And sorry to be historically accurate but the majority of Southern cuisine is predominately white cuisine. People are just tired of the NYT constantly pushing their PC agenda in many articles even ones on cooking!
1
A national treasure. And, before The Food Network was a contest laden, food porn channel, Sarah Moulton did her best to expose the viewers to Ms. lewis.
She was a regular guest who both spoke on, and cooked American heritage foods. It's really a shame as to the opportunities lost and the shallowness gained.
She was a regular guest who both spoke on, and cooked American heritage foods. It's really a shame as to the opportunities lost and the shallowness gained.
23
There's a joke out there about the hero America wants versus the one that they need, and Sarah Moulton and Edna Lewis are cooks Americans need but don't really deserve.
5
You neglected to mention her other book, The Gift of Southern Cooking, which she wrote with Scott Peacock. It is from 2003, still in print, and I got it after reading about Ms. Lewis and Mr. Peacock in a New York Times article. Beautiful book. Has best Oxtail Recipe I've ever used.
17
Wonderful essay. I loved reading it and was reminded of watching Edna Lewis walk around Gage and Tollner's to chat with customers. Having her run the kitchen was a real treat for us Brooklynites.
I am also reminded of The Darden sisters wonderful oral history and recipe book...Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine.
I am also reminded of The Darden sisters wonderful oral history and recipe book...Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine.
12
Thank you! I enjoyed reading this. However, why are the food pictures so bland ?
11
..... 'cause I think it was the photographer's "agenda", or maybe the food "stylist's" agenda without any clue of the "essence" of Edna Lewis.
Hark, NYTimes.
Hark, NYTimes.
7
Southern cooking is uniquely American, however it is a regional cuisine. I don''t think many nations have a truly monolithic national cuisine, rather the norm is to have regional cuisines from which certain items are seen as representative of the nation as a whole. Italy and France being examples, but also Thai, Chinese and Indian cuisines are multiple and regional based.
16
Nice tribute. Must agree with a couple of commenters on two points. First, our country's cuisine is a smorgasbord of dishes imported from all over the globe. Southern food--which is what's described in the piece--is important, but it's not our whole culinary identity.
And the food photographs are appalling. That last shot of smothered rabbit actually turned me off lunch. A glass partially filled with a suspect liquid and three zombie beets does not an artistic shot make. What does a broken egg on a table have to do with foodways? What's with all the crumbs? Are we supposed to believe that Edna Lewis would approve of these scenarios? It's almost as though the photographer and stylist were attempting to put a negative spin on the text. Odd, to say the least.
And the food photographs are appalling. That last shot of smothered rabbit actually turned me off lunch. A glass partially filled with a suspect liquid and three zombie beets does not an artistic shot make. What does a broken egg on a table have to do with foodways? What's with all the crumbs? Are we supposed to believe that Edna Lewis would approve of these scenarios? It's almost as though the photographer and stylist were attempting to put a negative spin on the text. Odd, to say the least.
35
"And the food photographs are appalling."
Thank you, Penn. It's almost as if the photographer and stylist were thinking: BLACK PEOPLE! TIME TO GO DOWN-HOMEY AND SLOPPY.
There may have been some unconscious racism at work -- It's not like the Times hasn't revealed blind spots on several occasions. I hope that the stylist, photographer, and editor are giving some thought to this.
Thank you, Penn. It's almost as if the photographer and stylist were thinking: BLACK PEOPLE! TIME TO GO DOWN-HOMEY AND SLOPPY.
There may have been some unconscious racism at work -- It's not like the Times hasn't revealed blind spots on several occasions. I hope that the stylist, photographer, and editor are giving some thought to this.
12
Yes, too "affected".
2
This isn't about US cuisine and how its a smorgasbord of many cultures.
Its about this black lady, her experiences, and her take on southern food.
Geez!
Its about this black lady, her experiences, and her take on southern food.
Geez!
2
Years ago I made her blackberry jam cake with caramel icing, brought it to work, and sold slices, giving the proceeds to charity.
7
African Americans basically created Southern cooking (and they do get credit for it locally - I was born and raised in the South), but it is disingenuous to credit them for the Northeast, Midwest, Northwest, and West's cooking styles.
35
That's ridiculous. That's like saying the bricklayer not the architect designed the building.
Thank you for this piece. True Southern cooking in practically a lost art these days.
4
Lynn in DC, some of us Southerners still practice this art, especially on holidays.
2
Geez seriously. You need to read more, for one thing. I learned about the intimacy of food with the land from the "Little House" books, with Laura and Mary burning their fingers on the treat of the pig's tail at butchering season...
As other commenters have already noted, this is not "black" cooking; it's Southern cooking, period. How many whites had black servants? I'm sure most country people's grandmas knew how to cook squirrel and rabbit, and kept a kitchen garden.
The great cuisines of every nation are based on peasant food; this is no different. You take what you have, and with skill and love you feed your family. Edna Lewis wasn't saying anything remarkable; she was fortunate to have been in a time and place, with a gift for words and a clear memory, able to capture for an interested audience what so many before her did in anonymity, treasured only by their own families.
And as we have seen recently in the NY Times food section, not every black Southern cook is wonderful. Not every Indian housewife makes great rice. Not every Jewish grandma makes a memorable kugel.
As other commenters have already noted, this is not "black" cooking; it's Southern cooking, period. How many whites had black servants? I'm sure most country people's grandmas knew how to cook squirrel and rabbit, and kept a kitchen garden.
The great cuisines of every nation are based on peasant food; this is no different. You take what you have, and with skill and love you feed your family. Edna Lewis wasn't saying anything remarkable; she was fortunate to have been in a time and place, with a gift for words and a clear memory, able to capture for an interested audience what so many before her did in anonymity, treasured only by their own families.
And as we have seen recently in the NY Times food section, not every black Southern cook is wonderful. Not every Indian housewife makes great rice. Not every Jewish grandma makes a memorable kugel.
36
@SCA: I have admired Edna Lewis for years, since I bought some of her cookbooks. I have had the good fortune to eat at Gage and Tollner's on her watch, and also at her restaurant in North Caroline. It is wonderful to read this tribute to her in the NYT and also the praise of the commenters.
But did you HAVE to remind me of my paternal grandmother's cooking? I don't remember her kugel, but her golf ball soup is unforgettable. (Not in a good way.)
But
But did you HAVE to remind me of my paternal grandmother's cooking? I don't remember her kugel, but her golf ball soup is unforgettable. (Not in a good way.)
But
4
I'm stymied by wondering how "you need to read more" is an appropriate response to this lovely tribute. Agree or disagree, make your point -- but why be gratuitously rude?
10
The contribution of blacks to cooking and other aspects of Southern culture is frequently overlooked. I can't tell you how many contemporary lifestyle books I've seen about the "New South" that have no blacks in them. To these authors and publishing companies, black people don't cook, don't sew, and don't decorate.
Were it not for the terrible, condescending photos, I would have welcomed this article.
Were it not for the terrible, condescending photos, I would have welcomed this article.
9
Thank you for this article, phenomenal, lovely piece of writing about a person and culture that is equally phenomenal, lovely and so essential to America. Incredible writing. Incredible subject. Honored.
14
Couldn't agree more. Six years ago my wife and I bought our retirement home in the Piedmont area of Central Virginia. We are indeed fortunate to now live in an agricultural community where we have immediate and easy access to a wonderful cornucopia of locally grown products. We have been in journey through this wonderful region's foods and cooking and our tour guide has been Edna Lewis's writings. Call it African-American cooking, southern cooking, whatever, Ms. Lewis has given us an important compendium of a vitally important part of our American cultural heritage. Her recipes have helped my wife produce incredibly delicious food for our table - and for that we are proud of our American culinary heritage and thankful for Ms. Lewis and her magnificent contribution to the scholarship of our culture's foods.
30
Scotch-Irish immigrants brought the fried chicken tradition with them to the American in the 1700s. In Scotland and the Scottish borderlands, fried chicken dates back to the middle ages. Fired chicken is simply chicken fried in lard. Some West Africans fried chicken in palm oil. Both whites and blacks in the South fry chickens in skillets, which are small frying pans. Usually only restaurants have deep boilers. A hour or so before dinner or supper time, our grandmother would grab a chicken out of the back yard and wring its neck, snapping its head off with a flick of her wrists. It was our job as small kids to pluck the chickens, after they had doused with boiling water to male the plucking easy.
25
Hmmmm, nice, but this article was about how this southern black woman fries chicken.
4
The black woman in the article adds ham and butter, but otherwise she cooks fired chicken just like everyone else cooks fried chicken in the South. Southern fried chicken isn't a traditional African food.
3
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We kids for my parent's grocery store in a north east Iowa town with a pop. of 100, had to help slaughter, pluck, etc., chickens. Oh, but this article isn't anout whites and their history with chickens, it's about.., Oh, you already knew that?
4
I remember my mom buying her book when I was a child and I read it cover to cover. My Southern nana had a very similar cooking style. Thanks for bringing Edna Lewis back!
10
I must find some opportunity to teach this essay some day! Paired with Lewis's own work, it could offer students a powerful set of lessons about good writing.
14
Edna Lewis is a foundational figure in American cuisine. This cannot be disputed.
36
One hopes they will be more motivated after this article.
1
interested parties should simply read "Taste of Country Cooking" - it's more a book about an almost-lost country cooking tradition than it is a cookbook, but the recipes (which are ample) are fabulous.
Having grown up in the country, and in the South, I can identify with a lot of her life experiences - we ate freshly shot wood duck last week -- but I imagine most NYT readers have no idea where food really comes from. Miss Edna's cookbooks can really open readers' eyes to true locavore eating.
Having grown up in the country, and in the South, I can identify with a lot of her life experiences - we ate freshly shot wood duck last week -- but I imagine most NYT readers have no idea where food really comes from. Miss Edna's cookbooks can really open readers' eyes to true locavore eating.
14
This speaks of a bond with the land and community that has all but disappeared from American life. This speaks of brotherhood and sisterhood that knows no racial divide. There is a pride that comes from a desire to rise above circumstance, even when circumstance offers little hope in the face of bigotry and economic enslavement. There is a glory to life that is known by those who wrest from the earth, by labor and by love the fruits of creation and transform them into celebrations of all things that are possible.
With slight nuances these are the recipes I learned as a child on my grandfathers farm in Maine in the 1950's. Our rural community of land rich but cash poor Finnish immigrants shared the values so eloquently presented in this story. I have seen the simple plates of fresh berries and cream, home churned butter; and tasted biscuits fresh from a wood burning stove. They are part of my life and my soul. Our animals, our gardens seem to be reflections of those that served to inspire Edna Lewis. There was an activist Finnish community in Harlem in the 1920's. All men and women were equals in the union halls there. My grandfather escaped bondage from the harsh conditions of a cruel life at sea by jumping ship and finding hope for the future by settling on 126th Street . The money that bought our farmland came from hard work - building the George Washington bridge. How very much alike are all people engaged in struggle. Let us break bread together always. Unity!
With slight nuances these are the recipes I learned as a child on my grandfathers farm in Maine in the 1950's. Our rural community of land rich but cash poor Finnish immigrants shared the values so eloquently presented in this story. I have seen the simple plates of fresh berries and cream, home churned butter; and tasted biscuits fresh from a wood burning stove. They are part of my life and my soul. Our animals, our gardens seem to be reflections of those that served to inspire Edna Lewis. There was an activist Finnish community in Harlem in the 1920's. All men and women were equals in the union halls there. My grandfather escaped bondage from the harsh conditions of a cruel life at sea by jumping ship and finding hope for the future by settling on 126th Street . The money that bought our farmland came from hard work - building the George Washington bridge. How very much alike are all people engaged in struggle. Let us break bread together always. Unity!
79
What a hellava well written article about one of my all American HERO Chefs of ALL time!!! I've always loved her style and grace as a renowned Chef... I own and I've read and learned from every one of Chef Edna's cookbooks. WOW and BRAVO Francis Lam!!!!!
59
Absolutely excellent article on a legend. Really enjoyed it and the important perspectives raised. Well done, Mr. Lam.
20
ate at Gage and Tollner in the early 1990's when she was cooking there. Still remember the Crab Cakes and She-crab soup.
12
Excellent article Francis. Thank you for showing Edna Lewis as a leader in the culinary world and a pioneer
24
Why are the photos so ugly and unpolished, styled in an unglamorous and unappetizing way, unlike 99% of food illustrations I see in this paper and elsewhere?
Why does everything change when the subject is black?
Why does everything change when the subject is black?
10
Lifelong, sorry you didn't get much from the article. Those carefully produced photos reflect its content.
7
To Lifelong Reader:
I read your comment before looking at the photos, and I figured it was probably just griping by an easily offended person.
Then I looked at the photos. I think they may be the worst styled food photos I've ever seen.
The crockery is of poor quality and lacking color or interest. The plain white tablecloth under the food is creased and looks dirty. The walls and cloths used as backdrops are ugly and shabby looking. There are crumbs on the eating surfaces that make it look as if somebody forgot to clean up before taking the photos. Etc.
Your suggestion that the photos were staged in such an unappealing way because the chef written about was black makes perfect sense to me. (And I am "white.")
I read your comment before looking at the photos, and I figured it was probably just griping by an easily offended person.
Then I looked at the photos. I think they may be the worst styled food photos I've ever seen.
The crockery is of poor quality and lacking color or interest. The plain white tablecloth under the food is creased and looks dirty. The walls and cloths used as backdrops are ugly and shabby looking. There are crumbs on the eating surfaces that make it look as if somebody forgot to clean up before taking the photos. Etc.
Your suggestion that the photos were staged in such an unappealing way because the chef written about was black makes perfect sense to me. (And I am "white.")
12
I'd disagree about the photos being "ugly & unpolished"- the food porn style of food photography is overwrought and overrated, and natural light shoots using props you'd actually see in someone's home are to be desired. Creating unrealistic expectations about what the finished dish looks like (just read the comments in the Recipes section among the many opinionated cooks there) doesn't serve anyone well.
However, I would have liked to see more pictures in this piece of Ms. Lewis' actual recipes, and fewer photos of raw ingredients. While I am glad to see any coverage of Ms. Lewis, and Mr. Lam does a generally commendable job of contextualizing Ms. Lewis' work, there is a bit of an undertone in the photos and text of "Only really humble and honest people use real ingredients," which smacks of clashing concepts of classism and respectability politics all at the same time. "Authenticity" is important, but so is accessibility.
However, I would have liked to see more pictures in this piece of Ms. Lewis' actual recipes, and fewer photos of raw ingredients. While I am glad to see any coverage of Ms. Lewis, and Mr. Lam does a generally commendable job of contextualizing Ms. Lewis' work, there is a bit of an undertone in the photos and text of "Only really humble and honest people use real ingredients," which smacks of clashing concepts of classism and respectability politics all at the same time. "Authenticity" is important, but so is accessibility.
23
this woman set out from an early age to study foods and cooking and gave America secrets that it desperately needs today.
Our writer's mention of drive-through window chicken reminds me of a fictional young man who averted his eyes as he trod past all the easy princesses of commerce to reach his beloved's manse but still felt a bit undeserving of her.
Our writer's mention of drive-through window chicken reminds me of a fictional young man who averted his eyes as he trod past all the easy princesses of commerce to reach his beloved's manse but still felt a bit undeserving of her.
3
Nice job, Francis Lam. I've watched her popularity ebb and flow for 40 years now. It's nice to see her being re-discovered anew. - John Curtas
13
No other biscuit recipe will do.
8
Really enjoyed this article. My Mom would go to the "country stores" in New York , sometimes small road side stands with goods from the south of bigger places like a store in Brooklyn that sold country ham and hogshead cheese. Nothing taste better than biscuits or pie crust made with lard.
7
There is no difference between black southern cooking and white southern cooking. None.
10
That's because the slaves taught their white owners how to do it. The white folks sure weren't doing the cooking when they settled the South - and many STILL didn't do their own cooking until well into the 1960s. (re: The Help) So while one may argue there is little difference today (all though there really still is) you cannot dispute that the foundations of southern cooking are black.
39
Your comment is so deeply untrue. The Scottish settlers in the south certainly did cook their own food. There were more people in the south then plantation owners. I'm not from the south, but I am a fan of history. I do not know if the foundations of southern cooking are black, but the truth is that many people in the south cooked their own food. Look it up!
6
OK, yes, but. . . .
Not all homes in the South were out of "Driving Miss Daisy". There have always been a lot, lot more poor whites than rich whites in the South.
Not all homes in the South were out of "Driving Miss Daisy". There have always been a lot, lot more poor whites than rich whites in the South.
9
Read her book. It is wonderful. And her fried chicken is the best ever.
10
Just took out my 1977 copy of Taste of Country Cooking the other day, so was delighted to see this! Also recently returned from southern Africa, where I saw, and ate, grits (sadza and other names) and collards, which seem to be a staple green, growing everywhere. Bought locally-made grits whisk and spoon at a village market, too.
Lewis' book is fun to read, even if one doesn't cook a thing in it. Thanks for the article!
Lewis' book is fun to read, even if one doesn't cook a thing in it. Thanks for the article!
5
A wonderful tribute to an inspiring woman. I met Lewis several times, and what Judith Jones says of her presence is true: she was commanding, gracious, and seemingly possessed of remarkable insight and equilibrium.
28
This is another example of the African American community misappropriating Southern cooking as their own, as their creation. taught to white women while laboring in white kitchens.
Wrong, and it's time for honesty.
My sharecropper Caucasian grandparents, who settled in East Texas, cook this way their entire lives. They also killed wild hogs and wrung chicken necks. Soap was made from the hog fat. I remember all of it. African American folk did not teach them them their culture and skills. My grandparents lived their own heritage.
Wrong, and it's time for honesty.
My sharecropper Caucasian grandparents, who settled in East Texas, cook this way their entire lives. They also killed wild hogs and wrung chicken necks. Soap was made from the hog fat. I remember all of it. African American folk did not teach them them their culture and skills. My grandparents lived their own heritage.
4
With all due respect - killing a wild hog, rendering its fat, and wringing a chicken neck was not the extent or the essence of Edna Lewis's skill and repertoire as a fine chef.
The white backlash and, frankly bigotry, that his article seems to have excited from the hustings of the South and Texas is at once somewhat breathtaking and missing the point, which is that Edna Lewis's food was exemplary. Very few chef's, let alone cooks whose proud output I've tasted could touch her. Your comments are missing that fine point.
Consistent texture, fine timing, sensitivity to the ingredients, a light touch, and presentation were gifted by Lewis to those who had the privilege of eating meals prepared by her.
Stop for a moment some of you who are trying to politicize the respect for fine food preparation and put away your guns and rope. You are proving the wrong point all too well and at your own expense.
If you have a point to prove, do it in your kitchen and serve it on a plate to me. The proof is in the chocolate souffle.
The white backlash and, frankly bigotry, that his article seems to have excited from the hustings of the South and Texas is at once somewhat breathtaking and missing the point, which is that Edna Lewis's food was exemplary. Very few chef's, let alone cooks whose proud output I've tasted could touch her. Your comments are missing that fine point.
Consistent texture, fine timing, sensitivity to the ingredients, a light touch, and presentation were gifted by Lewis to those who had the privilege of eating meals prepared by her.
Stop for a moment some of you who are trying to politicize the respect for fine food preparation and put away your guns and rope. You are proving the wrong point all too well and at your own expense.
If you have a point to prove, do it in your kitchen and serve it on a plate to me. The proof is in the chocolate souffle.
7
Claudia,
What anger you exhibit. The article is about African-Americans and their effect on Southern food. I'm sure the article no where states whites can't/couldn't cook this food, but I will bet there is a difference in how the food tastes. Both can be equally good, but different.
What anger you exhibit. The article is about African-Americans and their effect on Southern food. I'm sure the article no where states whites can't/couldn't cook this food, but I will bet there is a difference in how the food tastes. Both can be equally good, but different.
3
This is why I read you every day NYT....a great story about a true original. Thank you! And Val Mcdermid reviewing a book.....Life is good!
27
Amazing article about an amazing human being! Southern food is the only authentic American cuisine...and it is completely influenced by African Americans...Eugene Walter is a hometown hero....and this wonderful article brings it all back home to me where we came from...the joy and the sorrow of it all.
18
I don't think southern food is the only "authentic" American cuisine. Southern food is regional and many of the dishes such as fried chicken and macaroni and cheese were brought here from Europe.
1