Edna Lewis might be the most important American chef ever and few people knew her like her niece, Nina Williams-Mbengue. Nina was just 12 years old when she helped her Aunt Edna by typing up the notes for Edna’s landmark cookbook, TheTaste of Country Cooking. The 1976 book inspired the farm-to-table movement of later years, codified the classics of Southern cuisine, and documented the foodways of Freetown, Virginia, the settlement founded by Edna’s grandfather and other individuals who had been freed from chattel slavery. Nina shares what her aunt was really like, her memories of summers spent in Freetown, and what Edna would think of the legacy she left behind. Don’t miss this special episode. 

Thank you to Chronicle Books for supporting our podcast. Chronicle Books is the publisher of Flavors of the Sun: The Sahadi’s Guide to Understanding, Buying, and Using Middle Eastern Ingredients by Christine Sahadi Whelan, out Tuesday, Sept. 7th. Be sure to get a copy from your favorite bookstore. 

Radio Cherry Bombe is recorded at Newsstand Studios at Rockefeller Center in New York City. 

Visit https://cherrybombe.com/nina-mbengue-transcript for a transcript of this episode.