Edna Lewis (1916-2006)

JJ-38

Edna Lewis was born here in Freetown, a community established by people emancipated from slavery, including her grandfather Chester Lewis. She learned to cook from her family using local meat and produce. In 1949 she became the chef and a partner in New York’s celebrated Café Nicholson. Lewis later cooked in other elite restaurants, where Black female chefs were rare. As the author of four cookbooks, including the seminal Taste of Country Cooking, she generated national interest in southern cuisine and in fresh, seasonal ingredients. She received an honorary doctorate from Johnson & Wales University and in 2014 was depicted on a U.S. postage stamp. Lewis is buried in a family plot near here.

Department of Historic Resources, 2022

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

https://www.ednalewisfoundation.org/freetown Francis Lam, “Edna Lewis and the Black Roots of American Cooking,” New York Times, 28 Oct. 2015. Ni’Kesia Pannell, “All About Edna Lewis, the Grande Dame of Southern Cooking,” Delish.com, 31 Aug. 2020. Hunter Lewis, “Introduction to the Edna Lewis Cookbook” (Edinburg, VA: Axios Press, 2016). Phil Audibert, “Edna Lewis and the Lewis Family of Orange,” Orange County Review Insight, 23 Feb. 2006. See https://www.ocaahs.org/post/edna-lewis-and-the-lewis-family-of-orange New York Times, 14 Feb. 2006. “Edna Lewis ,” Virginia Changemakers, https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/changemakers/items/show/24 Sara B. Franklin, ed., Edna Lewis: At the Table with an American Original (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2018). Norfolk Virginian Pilot, 26 May 1996. Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 17 Feb. 2006. Guide to the Café Nicholson Archive: http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/fales/mss_165/bioghist.html