Author: Michael W. Twitty
Started: March 29, 2018
Finished: April 28, 2018
Pages: 444
Genre: Food
First Sentence: The Old South is a place where people use food to tell themselves who they are, to tell others who they are, and to tell stories about where they've been.
Summary: [From BN] 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 He sifts through stories, recipes, genetic tests, and historical documents, and travels from Civil War battlefields in Virginia to synagogues in Alabama to Black-owned organic farms in Georgia.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.
Thoughts: This is, perhaps, one of the most important books I have ever read. The Cooking Gene explores southern food culture and clearly illustrates that food we think of as "Southern" is mainly African in origin. White culture has entirely co-opted the culinary history of an enslaved population. Twitty doesn't use his book to place blame or settle grievances, he merely wants to explore the truth and give back the history that is missing in our understanding of southern cuisine. This book is more than a food memoir, it's the hard story of the south as it was created by slavery and forced migration. The Cooking Gene, while devastating at times, ultimately has the hopeful note of endurance that threads throughout the narrative. Our understanding of southern food culture may be wrong, but the true history has survived and should be celebrated.
Twitty's writing can be dense at times, particularly when he's tracking percentages of genealogy, but, aside from those paragraphs, this books is beautiful to read. The descriptions are rich and vibrant, the research in-depth and well-connected, and the narrative thoughtful and compelling. Twitty relies on his family and personal story to act as a framework, but that personal structure makes the impact of his findings and explanations all the more powerful. It gives a personal touch to what would otherwise be a faceless narrative. Twitty's family tree stands in for all the untold numbers of families who were enslaved. It's a powerful structure that makes it impossible to ignore how devastating slavery was (and continues to be) to both Africa and the U.S.
This book is not an easy read. The material is, at times, incredibly emotional and difficult to get through. The chapter on slave families being split up on the auction block had me in full tears. The fact that this text is not easy to read is why it's so important. American culture at large wants to forget it's greatest sin and change everything that came out of it in such a way that the pain and true nature of it's origin is obscured. Twitty does not allow that to happen. This book is important, his work is important, and all the accolades Twitty has received are well-deserved.
The Cooking Gene will make you completely rethink the history of food in this country. You may even find yourself looking at your own family story. This book is complex and would probably benefit from multiple readings. There is so much history and emotion to digest that seeing all the nuances in one reading is impossible. But it deserves at least one reading.
Make time for this book. You won't regret it.
On a personal note, this book was moving to me because of how it helped me understand my own family history. A branch of my family had a plantation just outside of New Orleans during the slavery era. My family owned slaves. It's not something I'm proud of, but it's the reality of my family history. Twitty spends a large part of this book tracing back his genealogy, including where white, European genes entered his family tree. It's a part of racial history in this country that we gloss over. This book makes me want to track those African American members of my family tree that are bound to exist. Additionally, my father has always talked about our family coming from a rice culture. This book taught me that that part of my history comes from Africa. My own history has been enriched by this work. For that alone, I am grateful this book exists.
Rating: 10/10 [Best. Book. Ever.]
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