Eu Tenho um Pé na Cozinha

Scott Alves Barton, formerly named one of the top 25 African American chefs by Ebony magazine, contextualizes Lewis as a culinary icon in his three-part essay. He emphasizes her importance to the African diaspora by giving a detailed account of how her life’s work—food—mingled so inseparably with black history.

A Message from My Muse

Toni Tipton-Martin, award-winning culinary author and journalist, reminisces on the lessons that Lewis taught her about the struggles and authenticity of African American food history. Their relationship inspired Tipton-Martin to dive more deeply into the richness of black cooking.

It’s Not All Fried Chicken and Greasy Greens

Mashama Bailey, chef and partner of award-winning restaurant The Grey, recalls first discovering Lewis when searching for a professional chef role model to write about in culinary school. Bailey praises Lewis’s works as perfectly encapsulating everything she loves about southern cooking.

I Had, of Course, Heard about Her

Sara Franklin, author and oral historian, interviews Nathalie Dupree, one of Lewis’s closet friends. Dupree gives color and depth to Lewis’s life as a celebrity chef who rarely received royalties for her famous books. She reminisces on memories as varied as Lewis’s manner of dress to her political affiliations while shining light on the vivacious, intelligent woman behind the recipes.

Edna Lewis and the Melancholia of Country Cooking

Lily Kelting, a postdoctoral fellow associated with food research, explores Lewis’s legacy as both a cultural icon and cultural historian. She examines the significance behind Lewis’s image immortalized as a stamp, recalls her own journey into the archives of Lewis as she worked on her dissertation, and reflects on the sensual prose that marks Lewis’s writing as uniquely her own. Finally, Kelting remarks on the duality of the sadness of Lewis’s passing and the enduring sense that she is “decidedly not gone”.

Edna Lewis

Author and academic Megan Elias praises Lewis’s role as a cultural teacher through a medium that everyone can enjoy—food. Elias provides a thorough analysis of the historical significance of Lewis’s life and works.

Edna Lewis and the Black Roots of American Cooking

Francis Lam, host of the public radio show The Splendid Table, shares his experience reporting on Lewis’s history and legacy for New York Times Magazine. He includes colorful details of Lewis’s life and works, while artfully portraying a woman who chose to look past life’s hardships and focus instead on its beauty.

Looking for Edna

Associate professor Patricia Clark explores the implications and relationship between the “legions of anonymous black women who labor in the kitchens” and Lewis’s role as a legendary chef.

Edna Lewis: Selected Portraits

I don’t remember how I first learned about Edna Lewis—only that once I heard her name, she was everywhere. Like a word you learn and then hear on the radio the next day. Like an echo. My curiosity to learn more about her grew into something like hunger. But traces of Edna Lewis in the public record were hard to come by. When the local public library didn’t have her books, I bought them secondhand. I read them many times before I started to cook from them. I started feeling that Edna Lewis was something like my friend. And stranger still—other people, even those who never knew her—seemed to feel the same way. This essay traces my friendship with a woman I have never met, indeed will never know. It asks what I have been asking myself for six years now: What is it about Edna Lewis that renders her always partially out of view, hard to get a hold of and harder still to let go?...

The African Virginian Roots of Edna Lewis

Michael Twitty—culinary historian, author, and blogger—traces the origins of Lewis through a detailed analysis of her home, familial history, and traditions. His essay illuminates Lewis’s path upward to being one of the most influential black female chefs in the world.