A review by eilnarfparker
The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty

4.0

A lot of Goodreads reviews of this book talk about how the layout and language were hard to follow, and I just want to point out that this is a memoir, not a history book, and a journey, not a linear path. It is true that this is a book about Michael W. Twitty, but at its core it is about the experience of so many others. He uses his own history as a lens- to create a focus in so broad a topic. I thought the writing was inventive and beautiful (almost poetic), and I learned so much about how various edible plants, gardening practices and cooking techniques have traveled around the world and combined with one another to create what we now know as Southern Food (primarily via the slave trade and colonialism). This book is as much about storytelling as it is about food and history. It is about the importance of storytelling in filling in the gaps, and about how those stories can lead to discovery. Personally I loved the memoir format and the inclusion of Twitty's personal emotions and recipes. If you are looking for a clearcut textbook on African American Culinary History, though, this isn't the book for you.