Edna Lewis, Chef

Edna Lewis, Chef

1916–2006 · Freetown, Virginia, and New York. Granddaughter of formerly enslaved people who helped found Freetown, a farming community.

The kitchen. In 1949 she became the chef at Café Nicholson in Manhattan, cooking simple Southern food for writers, artists and actors.

The book. *The Taste of Country Cooking* (1976) recorded the seasonal cooking of her childhood: spring greens, summer tomatoes, hog butchering in winter, church suppers.

The idea. Cook what is fresh, in season, from nearby, and cook it well.

The trade. Farm to plate is ten trades deep. Gallery G7 lays out the line.

Hall of Makers · a historical maker until local oral histories are recorded. Scan for the full story.

Scan for the reading · newschoolworks.com/q/H9FJH8H9FJH8