Michael W. Twitty

Michael W. Twitty is a culinary and cultural historian and the creator of www.Afroculinaria.com, the first blog devoted to African American historic foodways and their legacy. He has been honored by the website First We Feast (www.firstwefeast.com) as one of twenty greatest food bloggers of all time, and named one of “Fifty People Changing the South” by Southern Living. He’s also been honored as one of the “Five Cheftavists to Watch” by TakePart.Com. Twitty has appeared on NPR’s The Splendid Table and Morning Edition and has written for the Guardian, Ebony, Local Palate, and the Washington Post. He’s given over 300 talks in the U.S. and abroad, including audiences at the Smithsonian, Yale University, The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery in England, and the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival. He was a 2014 Smith Symposium Fellow of the Southern Foodways Alliance and a 2016 TED fellow and speaker, and was recently honored by Taste Talks with their first Culinary Pioneer Award. Twitty’s blog, Afrioculinaria was honored with both the readers’ and editors’ choice awards from Saveur for the best food and culture blog. Twitty is also a Judaics teacher and writes on Jewish cultural issues. He is the first Revolutionary in Residence at Colonial Williamsburg. Favorite Southern foods: barbecue (beef ribs though not necessarily traditional---all the noms), a decent and proper biscuit, red rice, collard greens--no vinegar!, buttermilk pie, okra soup, country captain, sweet potatoes, etoufee, gumbo, jambalaya. Diva of Choice: Julia Sugarbaker from "Designing Women" or Whitley Gilbert from "A Different World" Favorite Expression: Bless yo' heart. Person Likely to Play Me in a Movie: I really want Idris Elba, but I'm getting Anthony Anderson. If I had Kids I would name them: (All girls) Portico, Verandah and Lanai... I always thought Zephyr would be a cool name for a son. Nicknames: The Chocolate Chosen TM, Mr. Kosher Soul Influences: August Wilson, James Baldwin, Marlon Riggs, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Roy Lichenstein, Romare Bearden, Joseph Campbell, Robert Graves, Zora Neale Hurston.