Skip to main content

    Office of Public Lectures, UWAA & GSEE - The Cooking Gene: Tracing My African American Story Through Food

    Wednesday, January 24, 2024 at 6:30 PM until 8:00 PMPacific Standard Time UTC -08:00


    Town Hall Seattle
    1119 8th Ave
    Seattle, WA 98101
    United States

    Note: GSEE is partnering with the Office of Public Lectures and UWAA to offer limited, complimentary tickets for (20) GSEE students to attend this sold-out event. Space is limited and spots are first-come, first-served, so please RSVP as soon as possible. A waitlist will be available, but waitlisted students are not guaranteed to receive a ticket.

    For African American culinary historian Michael W. Twitty there was a giant hole in the story of American cooking as big as the one in the story of most African American families. Putting the microscope on himself, Michael decided to fully trace out his family history through the story of Southern and American food. Using genetic research, historic interpretation, nature study, heirloom gardening and interviews with contemporary voices in food, his journey led him back to his family’s origins in West and Central Africa and a front row seat in the debate over race and food in American life. 

    In celebration of an evening of food, the UW Alumni Association will be partnering with the Office of Public Lectures to provide appetizers for all lecture attendees before and after the talk. Bon appetite!

    The following books by our featured speakers are available to order online from OPL's partner, The University Bookstore, at a discounted price:

    Michael Twitty’s books are available to order online from our partner The University Bookstore at a discounted price:

    The Cooking Gene and Koshersoul by Michael Twitty Promo code UWPLTWITTY

    Michael Twitty will be signing books after this lecture.

    For more information about this lecture, please visit https://www.washington.edu/lectures/events/the-cooking-gene-tracing-my-african-american-story-through-food/.

    About the speaker

    Michael Twitty
    Culinary Historian, and Educator
    Michael W. Twitty is a culinary historian and food writer, of Afrian American and Jewish descent, who blogs at Afroculinaria.com. He’s appeared on Bizarre Foods America with Andrew Zimmern, Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates and most recently Taste the Nation with Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi. HarperCollins released Twitty’s The Cooking Gene, in 2017, tracing his ancestry through food from Africa to America and from slavery to freedom, a finalist for The Kirkus Prize and The Art of Eating Prize and a 3rd place winner of Barnes & Noble’s Discover New Writer’s Awards in Nonfiction.  
    The Cooking Gene won the 2018 James Beard Award for best writing as well as book of the year, making him the first Black author so awarded. His piece on visiting Ghana in Bon Appetit was included in Best Food Writing in 2019 and was nominated for a 2019 James Beard Award. His next book, Rice, a New York Times noted cookbook, became available through UNC Press in 2021. KosherSoul, his follow-up to The Cooking Gene, was published in August 2022 through HarperCollins and received the 2022 National Jewish Book Award. Michael has a hit spice line based on The Cooking Gene and a recent special guest appearance on Michelle Obama’s Waffles and Mochi show on Netflix. Michael can also be found on MasterClass online, where he teaches Tracing Your Roots Through Food. Michael is a National Geographic Explorer, a TED fellow and a member of the 2022 TIME 100 Next class. He served as a historical consultant on the FX adaptation of Octavia Butler’s “Kindred.” 

    Registration is no longer available because the registration deadline has passed.