![]() He explores what makes the Black barbecue aesthetic exceptional and the many complexities of etiquette. An engaging storyteller, Miller brings his subjects to vivid life, as in the chapter on Black barbecue entrepreneurship, which predates Emancipation, with enslaved men and women using their business proceeds to buy freedom. He chronicles how Native American cooking techniques from the 1500s evolved into the social, festive food tradition we now call barbecue. ![]() But African Americans-the “innovators, rejuvenators, and reinventors” of barbecue-have seen their singular contributions to the culinary tradition “pushed to the margins.” To right this wrong, the author researched “hundreds of books, cookbooks, newspapers, online resources, oral histories, and periodicals,” interviewed barbecue aficionados and people working in the industry, judged competitions, and ate his way through more than 200 restaurants across the country. “If Black people ever had a national flag, it would be the Black Power fist holding a rib!” In Miller’s delicious third book, after Soul Food (a James Beard Award winner) and The President’s Kitchen Cabinet, he opens with this anonymous quote, illustrating the abiding connection between African American culture and barbecue. ![]() ![]() A deep dive into the past, present, and future of a classic American cuisine, recognizing the African Americans at the heart of it. ![]()
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