![]() While most people agree that barbecue is a result of European influences dovetailing with Native American techniques in Southern kitchens where the cooks were African Americans-that barbecue, in other words, is Black-evidence, by which I mean scholarly evidence, well-researched and reliably sourced, has been vanishingly scant. So faced with a whitewashed and one-sided representation of barbecue, Miller got to work. In The President’s Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas, Miller researched the contributions of African Americans who worked in the White House kitchen. ![]() His James Beard Award-winning Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time expounded upon the social history of key soul dishes-fried chicken, chitlins, yams. Miller’s books could be seen as an extension of that experience. In the 1990s, Miller worked as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton in the One America Initiative, which had the goal of fostering dialogue and helping communities reconcile racial divisions. ![]() ![]() ![]() The book has 22 recipes (bison skewers, banana pudding, alligator ribs), 16 mini-profiles ( such as barbecue king Henry “Poppa” Miller), and a big mission. ![]()
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