Food Memoirs Reading Group

Food-lovers know that the stories of our lives are often told in the kitchen.

Spend the last weeks of summer digging into some these stories in our Food Memoirs reading group, led by Kitchen Arts and Letters’ Laura Jackson. Get together to explore the personal accounts of four legendary chefs—Michael Twitty’s The Cooking Gene, Yemisi Aribisala’s Longthroat Memoirs, Edward Lee’s Buttermilk Graffiti, and Dominique Crenn’s Rebel Chef—as we discuss how each uses a life in food to explore subjects as wide-ranging as history, race, identity, language, health, hardship, finding joy, and so much more.

Participants will read one book before each of the four sessions. And all four books are included in registration.

The Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty

Michael Twitty’s family memoir and exploration of race in American cooking is a moving, detail-rich, and evocative account that stretches back more than 300 years. Twitty has ancestors who were white as well as Black, and he does not shy away from the painful discrepancies between them. It’s a powerful testament to the way that food—how it is raised, prepared, and eaten—is enmeshed in culture and daily living.

Longthroat Memoris by Yemisi Aribisala

Winner of the 2017 John Avery Award from the André Simon Memorial Fund, this collection of essays from Nigerian blogger Aribisala is an enthralling account of the food of her native country. Yes, you will learn about Nigerian food and culture—but beyond that, you’ll recognize you’re in the hands of a deeply perceptive writer who understands the relationship between food and the people who prepare it.

Buttermilk Graffiti by Edward Lee

Chef, television personality, and author of Smoke and Pickles, Edward Lee here sets out to explore the diversity of flavors and cultural traditions that make up America’s melting pot cuisine. Styled as both a memoir and a travelogue, the book takes us on a tour around the country, with each chapter devoted to a particular food and place. Lee’s unique perspective as a Korean-born, Brooklyn-bred, Kentucky-based chef—along with his insatiable curiosity and compelling narrative voice—results in a book that captures the diversity of American cuisine.

Rebel Chef by Dominique Crenn

Dominique Crenn is the first and only woman to hold three Michelin stars in the US. Having never attended culinary school or worked in a professional kitchen before walking into San Francisco’s Stars restaurant and insisting that she be hired, Crenn tells her story in Rebel Chef with thrilling frankness—her experience as an adopted child in Versailles, discovering a sexual identity, leaving a fizzling long-term relationship for a job in Indonesia, using her platform to be politically outspoken, and battling cancer at the height of her culinary career. Her unique voice is a crisp and refreshing perspective on the challenges and rewards of a career in fine dining.

Class will take place August 4, 18, September 1, and 15.