Decades before cornbread, shrimp and grits, and peach cobbler were mainstays on menus everywhere, Edna Lewis-"the first lady of southern cooking" (NPR)-was pioneering the celebration of seasonal food as a distinctly American cuisine.
Edna Lewis was born in 1916 in Freetown, Virginia, a farming community founded after the Civil War by freed slaves (among them her grandfather) and for many years lived and cooked in New York City. She was the recipient of numerous awards, including the inaugural James Beard Living Legend and Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) Lifetime Achievement Awards, the Grande Dame des Dames d'Escoffier International, and the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Lifetime Achievement Award. Her books were inducted into the James Beard Foundation Cookbook Hall of Fame, and she was commemorated with a United States Postal Service postage stamp. Miss Lewis was also the author of The Edna Lewis Cookbook, The Taste of Country Cooking, and, with Scott Peacock, The Gift of Southern Cooking. She died in February 2006.
"Lewis's food is both subtle and elegant, made with the confidence
and grace that arose from over a half-century in the kitchen. . . .
Even 30 years later, Edna Lewis . . . teaches us that 'good food
simply and lovingly prepared' will never go out of style, while
reminding us that the passionate pursuit of flavor can make for one
hell of a life." -The New York Times Book Review
"In Pursuit of Flavor was my introduction to Ms. Lewis and
the first African American cookbook I ever owned. It continues to
fire a passion for ingredients and the joy of the journey of
putting together a meal like no other work. This is culinary
elegance to dance by." -Michael W. Twitty, author of The Cooking
Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the
Old South
"As a young child obsessed with cookbooks, reading Miss Edna
Lewis's work felt like finding my way home for the first time. As
an adult who makes cookbooks, her work continues to be my north
star. Her voice, her life, her beautiful and appealing recipes, and
her legacy are right there in her books and it's so exciting to see
the renewed energy around In Pursuit of Flavor. If you're
new to Miss Lewis, get ready to meet an icon." -Julia
Turshen, author of Now & Again, Feed the Resistance, and
Small Victories, and founder of Equity at The Table
"Timeless . . . [this] beautiful new edition includes charming
illustrations and a foreword by Savannah chef Mashama Bailey, who
helms The Grey." -Southern Living
"This is a quiet book. A gentle book. A book that belongs on your
kitchen shelf. From whipped cornmeal with okra, to red rice that
recalls a Jolof dish, to rabbit fried in butter perfumed with
country ham, this revived classic reminds us of Edna Lewis's
genius." -John T. Edge, author The Potlikker Papers: A Food
History of the Modern South
"With In Pursuit of Flavor, Miss Lewis showcases her
expertise and techniques by taking us on a journey through her
childhood. She brings to life the entire farmland as it was seen by
someone who lived off the land. She picks fruits and vegetables and
shows us how to prepare them for the cupboard. She shows us how to
preserve the bounty of the season for later. She takes us to the
river and creeks to teach us about the local catches." -Mashama
Bailey (from the Foreword)
"I have seen no better representation of open-mindedness and the
all-embracing impulse than in Edna Lewis's cookbook In Pursuit
of Flavor. . . . [Lewis] is renowned (sainted, even, and
deservedly so) as the cornerstone of African-American cooking and
Southern foodways. For her role in that there are no plaudits too
great. She is the sine qua non." -Max Watman, The Daily
Beast
"The clean, seasonal, rustic, and thoroughly nostalgic tone of this
book, even soaked in corn pudding and brisket gravy, is a
distillation of Southern cooking at its best." -Jonathan Gold,
LA Weekly
"If you want to understand American food, you must first take the
full measure of Southern cooking. And in order to do that, you have
to spend time with Miss Lewis, one of the few cooks who belongs to
the pantheon of American culture. Like Aretha Franklin singing
gospel, Miss Lewis was both the inheritor of a great tradition and
its most talented practitioner. Her books are national treasures,
and In Pursuit of Flavor is the overlooked gem in the
treasury." -Kevin West, author of Saving the Season
"[Lewis] knew every trick in the book (because she wrote it):
Season she-crab soup with roe. Punch up cheese straws with
extra-sharp cheddar and cayenne. Balance a salad with both bitter
and sweet greens." -Garden & Gun
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