A Culinary Legacy

She was a trailblazer of American foodways, championing seasonal Southern cooking as one of the world's great cuisines. Born in 1916 in Freetown, Virginia, Lewis grew up in an African American farming community co-founded by her emancipated grandfather after the Civil War. Her upbringing shaped her enduring connection to the earth, the seasons, and the traditions of Southern food.

In her highly acclaimed cookbook "The Taste of Country Cooking," Lewis didn't just share recipes. She painted vivid portraits of sassafras tea, foraged berries and the sounds of whip-poor-wills at twilight. Her recipes were love letters and stories of land, lineage and liberation. As The New York Times noted last year, the book remains one of the most influential cookbooks of the past century.

Debra Freeman, a Richmond-based podcaster and food writer, believes Lewis' greatest impact lies in her cookbooks, which she regards as prototypes for those being published today: part memoir and part recipe. "Lewis was so far ahead of her time in allowing chefs to share more of themselves," Freeman explains. "The farm-to-table movement is commonplace and even expected now, thanks to Lewis. And for women chefs, she left a blueprint for how to keep the focus on the work." In 2025, Freeman released the Emmy-winning PBS documentary "Finding Edna Lewis," which follows Lewis' journey from the fields of Freetown to the streets of New York and beyond, weaving in insights from contemporary chefs and historians.

But recent efforts have brought the iconic chef into the spotlight. In 2023, Orange County, Virginia, launched the Edna Lewis Menu Trail, followed in 2024 by the unveiling of a state historical marker commemorating her life near the former site of Freetown. At the 2025 Family Reunion at Salamander Middleburg, the panel discussion "Edna Lewis and the Legacy of a Black Woman Chef" also paid tribute to the legendary chef. Moderated by food journalist Cheryl Slocum, the panel opened with a prologue from Freeman, who introduced her documentary to the audience, and panelists Mashama Bailey, Carla Hall and Dr. Jessica B. Harris, who each shared insights about Lewis' impact on their professional paths.

Bailey, a two-time James Beard Award winner and the co-owner of The Grey in Savannah, Georgia, and the newly opened L'Ardoise in Paris, credits Lewis as a major influence on her career. Bailey noted during the panel discussion, "Lewis' voice continues to guide and inspire young chefs and food professionals who are still finding their own footing."

Bailey was one of those chefs. She first learned about Lewis while researching chefs who have inspired her for a college essay during her studies at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. Lewis quickly became the focus of her essay, and more importantly, the chef whose values would continue to shape her own. Bailey even designed her menu at The Grey around Lewis' third cookbook, "In Pursuit of Flavor," dividing dishes into four elemental categories: dirt, water, pasture and pantry. Bailey is also the chair of the Edna Lewis Foundation, which supports Black chefs, farmers and food storytellers while carrying forward Lewis' farm-to-table philosophy.

Like Hall, James Beard Award-winning food writer and editor Slocum also says she didn't learn about Lewis until later in her career. “I didn't know of her when I studied and worked in France, when I trained in restaurant kitchens, or even when I ran my first food editorial department and test kitchen, where I was the only Black person among my peers,” she recalls. “Discovering her later, I was moved by how fearless she must have been to have accomplished all that she did, and I hope every Black woman entering this field can know about Ms. Lewis’ accomplishments and bravery and be powered by her story as they embark on their careers.

Harris, acclaimed food historian, culinary activist, and author of “High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America,” recalls feeling an instant connection to Lewis’ cooking.“ Lewis’ Virginia-based cooking was familiar to me,” Harris shares, “because it echoed my mother’s Virginia cooking."

Harris first met Lewis at a food symposium hosted by museum director and archaeologist Daphne Derven at the California Academy of Sciences. Years later, as one of the few Black women members of Les Dames d’Escoffier at the time, Harris had the honor of escorting Lewis to the stage when she received the organization’s “Grande Dame” award in 1999. Reflecting on Lewis’ legacy, Harris notes, “Lewis was not just the first Black woman to champion regional, seasonal foodways; she was the first person to do it. She probably had a wider influence than we even know."