The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South

From an early age, Twitty has been fascinated by how people connected to food and the way food aligned with meaning. At home, he experienced the blending of many food cultures and absorbed words in other languages as he pored over cookbooks. His first encounter with his own family’s culinary history was through a television program featuring Georgia chef Nathalie Dupree, who described how an enslaved Black child beat biscuit dough to ensure airiness. His love of other cultures led Twitty to Jewish literature and film; at the age of seven, he announced to his mother that he was Jewish.

Twitty was mesmerized by the emphasis Judaism placed on learning and analysis. He memorized the Jewish alphabet and took classes in Black-Jewish relations. He devoted himself to spiritual practices and studied Jewish cuisine. In New Orleans, Twitty learned about how Black cooks welcomed and taught Jewish immigrants. In Birmingham, he saw how Jim Crow affected the Jewish population. Passover is Twitty’s favorite holiday; he enjoys thinking and learning with others about the concepts of slavery and freedom through a narrative of food. He connects these experiences with his work in plantation kitchens, where he inhabits the past and the lives of his ancestors.