The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South

Since food isn’t just fuel, according to Michael Twitty, it represents something; it has meaning. What foods are significant to you and why? How do they connect with your culture and history?

How does the preservation of food history contribute to cultural understanding and awareness? How does Twitty demonstrate that contribution? Identify three ways in which the memoir advances cultural understanding, citing examples from the text.

Twitty alludes to the connection between the cuisines of Indigenous nations and African Americans. How are these cuisines similar or different? How can historians make sense of culinary ownership and/or determine the origins of historical dishes?