Booking and details
Get TicketsDates Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 7pm
Venue Folger Library
Tickets $20 Members / $25 Nonmembers
Join us on Saturday, July 26 at 7pm for our next “Cocktails and Conversation” with writer, culinary historian, and educator Michael W. Twitty, who has appeared on the Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods America with Andrew Zimmerman, Hulu’s Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, and Netflix’s High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America.
Cool off in the Folger Reading Room and learn about the enduring connection between Southern foodways and culture while enjoying curated summer cocktails from Quill & Crumb.
Following the conversation will be a book signing, with the opportunity to mix and mingle with Michael. The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South received both the 2018 James Beard Foundation Book Award for Writing and Book of the Year.
About the Speaker
Michael W. Twitty
Michael W. Twitty is an African-American Jewish writer, culinary historian, and educator. He is the author of The Cooking Gene, which won the 2018 James Beard Foundation Book Award for Book of the Year as well as the category for writing. His third book, Kosher Soul, was published in 2022 and was the first book by a Black author awarded the National Jewish Book Award. Twitty has made appearances on Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods America, Taste the Nation with Padma Laskshmi, Netflix’s High on the Hog and Many Rivers to Cross with Dr. Henry Louis Gates on PBS.
Related blog posts
Horchata and I share a heritage
Culinary historian Michael W. Twitty shares the extraordinary history of rice across the world resulting in horchata, a deeply personal drink for him.
Akara from Africa: Black-eyed pea fritters, inspired by Hercules
Learn more about black-eyed peas’ place in the early modern world and enjoy this akara recipe inspired by Hercules, a chef enslaved by George Washington.
About Folger Institute
The Folger Institute is a center for early modern research at the Folger Shakespeare Library that brings public audiences together with researchers to explore the cultures and legacies of the early modern world. Learn more.