Michael Twitty at Bacon's Castle

Saturday we traveled to Bacon's Castle in Surry, VA for an outdoor cooking demonstration. I was surpised to see Michael in 21st century clothing, but he explained that the foods he would be using are out of season, so the presentation was more informational than living history. Michael is a wealth of information and a very engaging presenter so we thoroughly enjoyed chatting around the fire with him, plus I came away with new information for my period food display.

If you are not familiar with Michael here is his bio:
Michael W. Twitty is a recognized culinary historian, community scholar, and living history interpreter focusing on historic African American food and folk culture. He is webmaster of http://www.afroculinaria.com, the first website/blog devoted to the preservation of historic African American foods and foodways. He has conducted classes and workshops, written curricula and educational programs, giving lectures and performed cooking demonstrations for over 100 groups including the Smithsonian Institution, Colonial Williamsburg, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, Library of Congress, and Oxford University's Symposium on Food and Cookery. He has been profiled in the Washington Post and interviewed multiple times on NPR including, acclaimed food program The Spendid Table. He is well known for his expertise in the history and heritage of enslaved African Americans and their foodways and his knowledge of growing African American heirloom crops, open hearth cooking, heritage breed livestock, and wild flora and fauna utilized by enslaved Africans and their descendants.