Honors College Welcomes Culinary Historian Twitty for Black History Month Celebration

Michael W. Twitty
Michael W. Twitty

Commonwealth Honors College (CHC) will welcome culinary historian and author Michael W. Twitty as the featured guest for its annual Black History Month celebration on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 5 p.m. in the CHC Events Hall. The free, public event will begin with Twitty delivering a talk based on his book, “The Cooking Gene,” which won two James Beard Awards in 2018 for Food Writing and Best Book, followed by a reception featuring recipes from his book prepared by UMass Dining Services.

In his talk, “The Cooking Gene: Tracing My African American Story Through Food,” Twitty will share how he traced 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.

Twitty is an independent scholar focusing on historic African-American food and folk culture and culinary traditions of historic Africa and a diaspora. Twitty is also the webmaster of www.Afroculinaria.com, the first website/blog devoted to the preservation of historic African-American foods.