Inspiration Kitchen And Sugar Beet Co-Op Honor 'Grand Dame Of Southern Cooking' With Fundraiser Dinner

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Sep 20, 2013 7:10PM

The granddaughter of freed slaves, Edna Lewis was taught at an early age that cooking could provide equal parts sustenance and entertainment. It wasn’t until she entered the kitchen of New York City’s Café Nicholson in the late 1940s that Lewis started down the path that eventually led to her being crowned “The Grand Dame of Southern Cooking.”

Lewis’s cooking and hospitality charmed the likes of Marlon Brando, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote throughout the 1950s. At the urging of Judith Jones, the editor at Knopf Books who helped make Julia Child a household name, Lewis wrote The Edna Lewis Cookbook in 1972 and The Taste of Country Cooking four years later; the latter is regarded as a benchmark in American regional cookbooks.

Lewis helped found the Society for the Revival and Preservation of Southern Food, an early precursor to the Southern Foodways Alliance, and spent much of her career trying to recreate the flavors and aromas in the kitchens of her youth. Today, Lewis’s influence is felt in kitchens across the country years after her 2006 death. Locally, the closest we can come to Lewis’s recipes is the amazing fried chicken at Big Jones—chef Paul Fehribach uses Lewis’s fried chicken recipe to the letter.

If you’re interested in discovering the cooking of Lewis, Inspiration Kitchens is preparing a four course menu inspired by Lewis’s work Oct. 5. Chef Kocoa Scott-Winbush and four guest performers will read excerpts of Lewis's writings The Taste of Country Cooking and In Pursuit of Flavor. Readings will be paired with the violin playing of local, classically trained jazz violinist Samuel "Savoirfaire" Williams.

Proceeds from this event will benefit The Sugar Beet Co-op, a volunteer organization that provides educational experiences that celebrate local food ranging from canning classes to an “Edible Garden Tour.” The Sugar Beet Co-op has reached over 3,000 people in 18 months with positive and practical information about sustainable food choices that support local farmers, strengthens our community and feeds our bodies and souls.

The dinner runs from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. Oct. 5 at Inspiration Kitchen, 3504 W. Lake St. Purchase tickets here.