UNC Press author Michael Twitty speaks with Jessica B. Harris and JJ Johnson on New York Botanical Garden’s “The Food Dialogues” series

In June, Michael Twitty, author of Rice: a Savor the South cookbook, had a virtual conversation with award-winning scholar Jessica B. Harris and James Beard Award-winning chef JJ Johnson. The conversation was for New York Botanical Garden’s “The Food Dialogues”, a series of rich conversations with prominent authors, chefs, and food historians that re-examines and redefines our notions of heritage and identity through food. In this conversation, Twitty, Harris and Johnson cover the history of rice, the food traditions of Juneteenth passed down through the years and even the present-day importance of rice.

Michael Twitty is a culinary historian and author of the James Beard Award-winning The Cooking Gene: A Journey through African American Culinary History in the Old South.