It also reminds readers that rice, as we know it in the South, is inextricably linked to the agricultural and culinary contributions of enslaved Africans. Twitty’s Rice is part of a University of North Carolina Press series that recognizes the history and influence of Southern ingredients like pecans, okra, crabs, and oysters.

“And I think it's still important that people realize that, that's not how this goes - that we're the center of this history.” “It has so often been told, much like barbecue and other areas of our food culture, that we're tertiary, we're not primary,” said Twitty. Recognizing the ubiquity of rice in Asia, Latin America, and other parts of the world, Twitty doesn’t claim Africans invented rice instead, he presents a forgotten and often ignored history of African influence in how rice is cultivated, prepared, and served throughout the South and the world. Twitty’s new book, Rice, links the proliferation of rice across the South to its African origins. He also saw - nearly everywhere he went - a pot of rice, a dish that’s come to define part of his culinary career. As he watched people chopping onions and peppers by hand, he reflected on his own grandmother and culinary upbringing. Before the pandemic, Michael Twitty found himself visiting Ghanaian chop bars in his travels around Ghana.

Michael twitty rice