Edna Lewis

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Edna Lewis (April 13, 1916 – February 13, 2006) was an African-American chef and author best known for her books on traditional Southern cuisine.

1 Early life and career
2 Café Nicholson and cookbook fame
3 Later career
4 Published works
5 Awards and honors
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Early life and career

Lewis was born in the small farming settlement of Freetown, Virginia, a granddaughter of an emancipated slave who helped start the community. She was one of eight children. She left Freetown at age 16, after her father died, and moved to Washington and eventually to New York City.^[1]. When she arrived in New York, an acquaintance found her a job in a Brooklyn laundry, where she was assigned to an ironing board. She had never ironed and lasted three hours before she was dismissed. She soon found work as a seamstress, and copied Christian Dior dresses for Dorcas Avedon, then the wife of Richard Avedon. She made a dress for Marilyn Monroe, as well as the African-inspired dresses for which she became well-known. ^[2].

She also worked for the communist newspaper The Daily Worker, was involved in political demonstrations, and campaigned for Franklin D. Roosevelt.^[3].

[edit] Café Nicholson and cookbook fame

In New York City, she married Steve Kingston, a retired merchant seaman and a communist. Shortly afterward, she met John Nicholson, an antiques dealer who in 1949 decided to open a restaurant on 58th Street, on the East Side of Manhattan. She became the cook, preparing cheese soufflés and roast chicken. Café Nicholson became an instant success among bohemians and artists. The restaurant was frequented by William Faulkner, Marlon Brando, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, Gloria Vanderbilt, Marlene Dietrich, and Diana Vreeland. ^[4]. Lewis remained at the restaurant until the late 1950s.

In the late 1960s, she broke her leg and was temporarily forced to stop cooking professionally. With encouragement from Judith Jones, the cookbook editor at Knopf who also edited Julia Child, she turned her handwritten pages into The Edna Lewis Cookbook (1972). This was followed by The Taste of Country Cooking in 1976. The book is considered a classic study of Southern cooking. In 1979, Craig Claiborne of The New York Times said the book "may well be the most entertaining regional cookbook in America."^[5].

[edit] Later career

In a 1989 interview with The New York Times, Lewis said: "As a child in Virginia, I thought all food tasted delicious. After growing up, I didn't think food tasted the same, so it has been my lifelong effort to try and recapture those good flavors of the past." ^[6].

After The Taste of Country Cooking was published, Lewis returned to restaurants, most notably to Gage and Tollner in Brooklyn. She worked there for five years before retiring in the mid-90s. She co-founded the Society for the Revival and Preservation of Southern Food, a precursor to the Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA).

Lewis also lived and worked in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Charleston, South Carolina. She died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Decatur, Georgia in 2006. She has been called "the South's answer to Julia Child"^[7].

[edit] Published works

The Edna Lewis Cookbook (1972)
The Taste of Country Cooking (1976)
In Pursuit of Flavor (1988)
The Gift of Southern Cooking (2003), co-authored with Scott Peacock

[edit] Awards and honors

1986 – Named Who’s Who in American Cooking by Cook’s Magazine
1990 – Lifetime Achievement Award, International Association of Culinary Professionals
1995 – James Beard Living Legend Award (their first such award.)
1999 – Named Grande Dame by Les Dames d’Escoffier, an international organization of female culinary professionals.
1999 – Lifetime Achievement Award from Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) (their first such award.)
2002 - Barbara Tropp President's Award, Women Chefs & Restaurateurs
2003 – Inducted into the KitchenAid Cookbook Hall of Fame (James Beard)
2004 – The Gift of Southern Cooking nominated for James Beard Award and IACP Award