In this Book
- Edna Lewis: At the Table with an American Original
- Book
- 2018
- Published by: The University of North Carolina Press
summary
Edna Lewis (1916-2006) wrote some of America's most resonant, lyrical, and significant cookbooks, including the now classic The Taste of Country Cooking. Lewis cooked and wrote as a means to explore her memories of childhood on a farm in Freetown, Virginia, a community first founded by black families freed from slavery. With such observations as "we would gather wild honey from the hollow of oak trees to go with the hot biscuits and pick wild strawberries to go with the heavy cream," she commemorated the seasonal richness of southern food. After living many years in New York City, where she became a chef and a political activist, she returned to the South and continued to write. Her reputation as a trailblazer in the revival of regional cooking and as a progenitor of the farm-to-table movement continues to grow. In this first-ever critical appreciation of Lewis's work, food-world stars gather to reveal their own encounters with Edna Lewis. Together they penetrate the mythology around Lewis and illuminate her legacy for a new generation.
The essayists are Annemarie Ahearn, Mashama Bailey, Scott Alves Barton, Patricia E. Clark, Nathalie Dupree, John T. Edge, Megan Elias, John T. Hill (who provides iconic photographs of Lewis), Vivian Howard, Lily Kelting, Francis Lam, Jane Lear, Deborah Madison, Kim Severson, Ruth Lewis Smith, Toni Tipton-Martin, Michael W. Twitty, Alice Waters, Kevin West, Susan Rebecca White, Caroline Randall Williams, and Joe Yonan. Editor Sara B. Franklin provides an illuminating introduction to Lewis, and the volume closes graciously with afterwords by Lewis's sister, Ruth Lewis Smith, and niece, Nina Williams-Mbengue.
The essayists are Annemarie Ahearn, Mashama Bailey, Scott Alves Barton, Patricia E. Clark, Nathalie Dupree, John T. Edge, Megan Elias, John T. Hill (who provides iconic photographs of Lewis), Vivian Howard, Lily Kelting, Francis Lam, Jane Lear, Deborah Madison, Kim Severson, Ruth Lewis Smith, Toni Tipton-Martin, Michael W. Twitty, Alice Waters, Kevin West, Susan Rebecca White, Caroline Randall Williams, and Joe Yonan. Editor Sara B. Franklin provides an illuminating introduction to Lewis, and the volume closes graciously with afterwords by Lewis's sister, Ruth Lewis Smith, and niece, Nina Williams-Mbengue.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Introduction
- pp. 1-14
- PART ONE: Encountering Miss Lewis
- A Message from My Muse
- pp. 38-44
- Lunch with Miss Lewis
- pp. 45-48
- Paying Down Debts of Pleasure
- pp. 49-54
- On Edna Lewis
- pp. 55-57
- PART TWO: Miss Lewis Standing in Culinary History
- The African Virginian Roots of Edna Lewis
- pp. 121-135
- Edna Lewis: Selected Portraits
- pp. 136-140
- Looking for Edna
- pp. 156-170
- PART THREE: At Table with Miss Lewis Today
- It’s Not All Fried Chicken and Greasy Greens
- pp. 193-199
- The Wisdom in the Pages
- pp. 220-225
- Afterwords: A Family Remembers
- pp. 240-246
- Acknowledgments
- pp. 247-248
- Contributors
- pp. 249-256
Additional Information
ISBN
9781469641454
Related ISBN(s)
9781469638553, 9781469638560, 9781469663999, 9798890852939
MARC Record
OCLC
1023497438
Pages
272
Launched on MUSE
2018-02-20
Language
English
Open Access
No