Michael W. Twitty

Michael W. Twitty is a culinary historian and food writer living in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He blogs at Afroculinaria.com and has appeared on Bizarre Foods America with Andrew Zimmern, Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Netflix's High on the Hog, and Taste the Nation with Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi.

HarperCollins released his book The Cooking Gene, in 2017, tracing his ancestry through food from Africa to America and from slavery to freedom, a finalist for The Kirkus Prize and The Art of Eating Prize, and a 3rd place winner of Barnes & Noble’s Discover New Writers Awards in Nonfiction. The Cooking Gene won the 2018 James Beard Award for best writing as well as book of the year, making him the first Black author so awarded. His piece on visiting Ghana in Bon Appetit was included in Best Food Writing in 2019 and was nominated for a 2019 James Beard Award.

His next book, Rice, a New York Times noted cookbook, became available through UNC Press in 2021. KosherSoul, his follow-up to The Cooking Gene, was published in 2022 and received the National Jewish Book Award. Michael has a popular spice line based on The Cooking Gene and a special guest appearance on Michelle Obama’s Waffles and Mochi show. Michael can also be found on MasterClass online, where he teaches Tracing Your Roots Through Food. He is a National Geographic Explorer, a TED fellow, and a member of the 2022 TIME 100 Next class. He also served as a historical consultant on the FX adaptation of Octavia Butler’s “Kindred.”