A review by pearl35
Thomas Jefferson's Creme Brulee: How a Founding Father and His Slave James Hemings Introduced French Cuisine to America by Thomas J. Craughwell

3.0

I read a lot of food history, and many of the books rhapsodize about Jefferson bringing French technique and food to America. This is the first to come out and really emphasize that Tom was not in the kitchen making the food and that there is more to the story than Jefferson's wine receipts and the commentary of his dinner guests. Craughwell looks into the tragic, difficult life of James Hemings, and finds in French records fuller commentary on Jefferson's decision to have one of his slaves trained in French haute cuisine while in Paris as Ambassador--the Revolutionary French had a lot to say about Hemings' decision to return to Virginia rather than stay free in France, and that this tension, of freedom vs. the continued enslavement of the rest of his family (several of whom he trained in French cuisine, and who spread these ideas through the south) contributed to Hemings' early suicide at age 36.