We rarely think of leaders in regional American cuisine, but without question, the leader of Southern food is Edna Lewis. Through her extensive appreciation of ingredients native to the South, her time spent growing up in farmer’s fields, rivers and barnyards full of livestock, Edna was connected to the land in way that so few Americans still are. According to Edna, the beauty of food was in its simplicity and the rare moments when something is at its peak and freshly harvested. She also had a style of cookbook writing that would keep any reader’s attention, a quick wit and the ability to cut right to the chase. In this class, we will create a meal in her honor, made up of sweet tea with aronia syrup, green bean salad with summer tomatoes, slow cooked skillet onions, spoon bread with fresh butter, pan fried chicken with creamy gravy and and peach cobbler.
