The Mother of Soul Food
I read books, but my reading isn’t just books. I read magazines and, yes, I still read newspapers.
When I read magazines I’m looking to learn. I’m generally not looking to learn with any particular goal; I’m just opening myself up to things I don’t know about or maybe don’t know as much as I would like to.
This evening, I was reading the Smithsonian magazine, a favorite of mine. Pretty much every article is interesting to me in some way, but now and then one stands out. In this issue, an article grabbed my attention. “The Mother of Soul Food” is an article about Edna Lewis, the granddaughter of a slave, who became a big name in the cooking and cookbook worlds. Best I can recall, I had never heard of her. I’m not a big cook or cookbook reader, so maybe no surprise, but her story is fascinating and I couldn’t help thinking “How have I never heard of her before?”
In what seems to be an unlikely story, Lewis became an internationally recognized chef and cookbook writer who raised the profile of American Southern cuisine.
By now, some of you might be saying, “All very interesting, but what does this have to do with Two Sides to the Story and books and reading?” I’m glad you asked. Here is a line from the article, “These books would establish Lewis as a champion of Southern cooking and an enchanting storyteller.” (The italics are mine.) Enchanting storyteller! A cookbook writer is an enchanting storyteller? That caught my eye.
This I need to see! Lewis wrote a number of cookbooks, but her first two are what introduced her to the world. Her second book, The Taste of Country Cooking, is available at the library. I reserved it and was surprised to find that someone else had reserved it ahead of me. Someone else reading the Smithsonian? The library doesn’t have her first book, The Edna Lewis Cookbook. I think I hear Wonder Books calling me.
More to come after I get the book. Maybe there is an episode to come.
Do you know a cookbook that is more than just a cookbook? Let us know at twosides2thestory@yahoo.com.