In Conversation with Michael W. Twitty

The Koffler is delighted to present an online conversation with African-American, Jewish food writer, culinary and cultural historian and educator Michael W. Twitty. Click here to register.

Continuing the theme of food culture begun with the Koffler.Digital project A Matter of Taste, the Koffler Centre of the Arts is delighted to present an online conversation with African-American, Jewish food writer, culinary and cultural historian and educator Michael W. Twitty. Mr. Twitty will discuss such themes as food justice, cultural appropriation, and how Black and Jewish people have mediated otherness and oppression through what they eat, as well as the global stories Diasporic foodways have to offer.

Michael W. Twitty is a recognized historical interpreter, independent scholar, and the founder of Afroculinaria.com, the first website/blog devoted to the preservation of historic African American foods and foodways. Twitty’s book, The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African-American Culinary History in the Old South, won two James Beard Awards in 2018 for Food Writing and Best Book and his piece in Bon Appetit, “I Had Never Eaten in Ghana Before. But My Ancestors Had” was nominated for a 2019 James Beard Award and was selected to be included in The Best American Food Writing 2019. In 2020, The Cooking Gene was named on Book Authority’s List of 100 Best Food Books of All Time. Michael’s next book, Kosher Soul, is slated for publication in 2021.

Twitty has made numerous television appearances and has been profiled in the Washington Post and Washington Post Magazine, The New York Times, Grist, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Cuisine Noir, Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Jet Magazine, and Ebony.com, among other publications. He was one of 20 people selected globally as a 2016 TED Fellow (you can hear his talk here).

Books & Ideas was launched with the generous support of Dorothy Shoichet & Family and the Estate of Joseph Koenig.

Books & Ideas Media Partner: Toronto Star