Michael Twitty
In The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South, Michael W. Twitty writes, “Food is an archiver, a keeper of secrets.” Yet Twitty, a culinary historian, scientist, cook, writer and reader, and justice seeker, shares everything, beginning with his Afroculinaria blog. With ancestral lines that span three continents and more than a dozen states and cities, Twitty speaks not about “from” but “of.” He is “of” these places, of parents born and raised “South by Midwest” and of people who liked to tell stories.
Twitty, known for his books on rice, kosher food, and Southern cooking, says, “Emotions are in the memories.” He recalls that he was away in Boston when his mother died, and a close friend made her mother’s ramen salad for him. It was a meaningful gesture. In food, he says, “We have to be hungry for the healing that accompanies it.” He noted how very few recipes didn’t have some “nobility” attached to them through memory.
In his work “to give a blueprint for others,” he considers himself lucky to understand why he’s here. He elevates the identities of those who cook by focusing on culinary justice, which provides agency to make our own choices and “brings us into a common narrative regardless of where that narrative takes us.” Twitty believes food is where values matter: respect for identity, for one’s life journey, for our ancestors’ identities, and for what we have in common.
“I want to restore cooking to its rightful heritage, whatever it is.”
Michael W. Twitty is the author of The Cooking Gene, Kosher Soul, and Rice. He will appear at University of Dayton’s Food and Culture Fest on February 5, 2026 as keynote speaker on the history, myths, and controversies surrounding Southern Food, race, and identity.
Find an interview with Twitty on the Edible Communities podcast Eat. Drink. Think. at EdibleCommunities.com/podcasts
Annette is a writer, teacher, and author of two memoirs, I’ll Be in the Car and I’ll Have Some of Yours. She is a second-generation Italian-American with roots in Calabria and Abruzzo. As a resident of Over-the-Rhine, she’s lucky enough to walk to Findlay Market twice in a day whenever she forgets an ingredient. Visit annettejwick.com to learn more.
