Recipes from the American South

by Michael W. Twitty

In the introduction to this groundbreaking recipe collection, acclaimed historian Michael W. Twitty declares, ‘No one state or area can give you the breadth of the Southern story or fully set the Southern table.’ To answer this, Recipes from the American South journeys from the Louisiana Bayou to the Chesapeake Bay, showcasing more than 260 of the region’s most beloved dishes.

Across more than 400 pages, Twitty explores the broad culinary sweep that Southern history and its many cultures represent. Recipes for breads and biscuits, mains and sides, stews, sauces, and sweets feature insightful headnotes and clear, step-by-step instructions. Home cooks will discover both iconic dishes and lesser-known specialties: Chicken and Dumplings, She-crab Soup, Red Eye Gravy, Benne Seed Wafers, Hummingbird Cake, and Mint Juleps appear alongside Shrimp Pilau, Chorizo Dirty Rice, Sumac Lemonade, and Cajun Pig’s Ears Pastry.

A masterful storyteller, Twitty enriches his extensive recipe collection with lyrical, deeply researched essays that celebrate the region’s “multicultural gumbo” of influences from immigrants from across the globe. Vibrant food photography adds further color to the fascinating narrative.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction

432 pages, Hardcover

Published October 15, 2025

About the author

Michael W. Twitty is a food writer, independent scholar, culinary historian, and historical interpreter personally charged with preparing, preserving and promoting African American foodways and its parent traditions in Africa and her Diaspora and its legacy in the food culture of the American South. He is also a Judaic studies teacher from the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area and his interests include food culture, food history, Jewish cultural issues, African American history and cultural politics.

Michael created Afroculinaria, the first blog devoted to African American historic foodways and their legacy. He appeared on Bizarre Foods America with Andrew Zimmerman, Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, and lectured to more than 200 groups including Yale, Oxford and Carnegie Mellon Universities, the Smithsonian Institution, Colonial Williamsburg, and spoken around the world from the MAD Symposium in Copenhagen to the Barbican Theatre in London to Jerusalem's Jewish Film Festival on culinary justice and the African American impact on Southern foodways and the complexities of his identity as a gay, African American, Jewish man. He was recently named one of 50 people changing the South by Southern Living and one of the Five Cheftavists to Watch, as well a TED Fellow.

Reviews

[Jennifer Huberdeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is Southern food?

Does the term conjure up a list of comfort foods: Fried chicken, barbecue, shrimp and grits, collard greens, cornbread, biscuits, mac and cheese? Or more stereotypical movie fare: Gumbo, fried green tomatoes, peach cobbler, pecan pie and mint juleps?

Neither of these lists is wrong, nor are they representative of the American South as a whole, according to culinary historian and James Beard Award-winning author Michael W. Twitty, who delves into the history of Southern cuisine in his newly-released cookbook, "Recipes from The American South."

For this volume of 250-plus recipes, Twitty defines the American South as "stretching from the Chesapeake Bay region to the Bluegrass country over the Mississippi River Valley and over to the Ozarks, the Southern plains west to Texas Hill Country and the Deep East, southward toward the coast of the Gulf of Mexico." He also includes the U.S. Census Bureau's designation of Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, West Virginia and Oklahoma as part of the South — not just by the borders of the Confederacy — because, he writes, the "definition and redefinition of Southern identity related to its confederate past isn't sufficient ... The largest culinary region of America doesn't stop at the Mason-Dixon Line or the Ohio River or St. Louis, Mo., which bills itself as the gateway to the American West."
The culinary history of the American South, he writes, can only be defined if the region and its history are broad and inclusive. That defining it by such a narrow definition, the borders of the Confederacy, "leaves out so many other essential populations, including Southern women, Native people, enslaved West and Central Africans and non-European immigrants — a profound story of human migration in and out of the South that began 13,000 years ago."

Read the rest of my review: https://www.berkshireeagle.com/arts_a...

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recipes From the American South.  Michael Twitty.  Phaidon Press, 2025.  432 pages.


This book is a must-have addition to any cookbook or southern history or southern food library.  It's the southern version of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in terms of scope and importance.  Michael Twitty has become one of America's greatest culinary historians.  He started out as a re-enactor, researching and demonstrating the foods and foodways of the American South that resulted from the blending of West African, Caribbean, Native American, and European cultures that resulted from the African diaspora and slavery.  His work illustrates both the importance of food history and the power of food to cross boundaries, erase differences, and unite people.  However, the region is vast, and even southern food is not monolithic.  Twitty presents 260 recipes that cover the entire breadth of southern cuisine.  The recipes are tested and prove, the photos are beautiful, and there are short histories of each dish.  Cooks will discover familiar recipes for dishes that their families have made for generations, but they will also discover new recipes and learn things about the old and the new in the process.  I've made some of the recipes and I will be making more, and the book has already become a first reference for me.  It is definitely a classic that should be on any southern cook's shelf.

[Kelly Blanchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recipes from the American South is far more than a cookbook, it is a cultural document, a historical narrative, and a deeply respectful celebration of Southern foodways. Michael W. Twitty masterfully demonstrates that Southern cuisine cannot be reduced to a single state, flavor, or tradition. Instead, he presents it as a living, evolving tapestry shaped by African, Indigenous, European, and immigrant influences.

What makes this book exceptional is the way Twitty pairs food with meaning. Dishes like Chicken and Dumplings and She Crab Soup sit comfortably beside lesser-known recipes such as Shrimp Pilau and Sumac Lemonade, each accompanied by headnotes that ground the food in lived history. The essays elevate the recipes, transforming the act of cooking into an act of remembrance and understanding. I genuinely enjoyed this book for its depth, clarity, and reverence, and I liked and rated it for its scholarship and storytelling as much as for its culinary value.

[Dalyn Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recipes from the American South by Michael W. Twitty is a masterful exploration of Southern cuisine, history, and culture. Spanning more than 400 pages and over 260 recipes, Twitty takes readers on a culinary journey from the Louisiana Bayou to the Chesapeake Bay, showcasing both iconic dishes and lesser-known regional specialties. Each recipe is accompanied by clear instructions and insightful headnotes, providing context and stories that bring the flavors of the South to life.

What makes Recipes from the American South exceptional is Twitty’s ability to combine culinary expertise with historical storytelling. His essays illuminate the multicultural influences that shaped Southern food from immigrant traditions to local adaptations while vibrant photography enhances the reader’s experience. The cookbook is both practical for home cooks and deeply enriching for anyone interested in the culture and history behind the food.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Twitty is a food historian who specializes in the food of the American South and the cultures that helped create what we know as American Southern food. In this book he has created a comprehensive cookbook that features Southern recipes you may recognize, as well as, ones you may not that highlight some of the other cultures that helped create Southern food as we know it today. The recipes are organized by typical categories and throughout the book there are some essays about particular topics - the southern garden, rice, storing preserves, etc. There were several recipes I'd like to try and overall I am impressed at the scope of this cookbook and the diversity of the recipes. Even if you're from the South, you will still find something new here.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive but it still has personality.