By Gary Manier – Collegiate Staff
The second lecture in the 2015-16 Diversity Lecture Series, titled “Afroculinaria,” is scheduled for Wednesday.
Michael Twitty’s focus is on the connection between food and family history from historic African roots to America, starting with slavery and expanding into the future. He is one of the few recognized experts of his craft as an international historic chef.
Twitty is a Judaic studies teacher from the Washington metropolitan area whose interests include food culture and history, Jewish culture and African American history and cultural
politics.
He is the webmaster and creator of Afroculinaria.com. Afroculinaria is the first website devoted to the promotion and preservation of historic African foodways.
Twitty’s forthcoming book, “The Cooking Gene,” to be released in 2016 by HarperCollins traces the history of Southern food and poses the question of how food has changed and how it relates to the African and African-American experience.
The series is hosted by Grand Rapids Community College and held at Fountain Street Church. All lectures are free of charge and start at 7 p.m.
