Courtesy of University of Arkansas News
Posted July 15, 2021
Picking up where the group left off after events were canceled in 2020 due to the global pandemic, this year’s One Book, One Community committee selection is Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting Pot Cuisine, highlighting the connection between our multicultural society and the food we grow, prepare and eat.
Written by award-winning chef Edward Lee, Buttermilk Graffiti explores the intersection of food and culture as Lee takes a trip across America, experiencing exceptional food in unconventional places.
The book has been named a Best Food Book of the Year by the Boston Globe, Smithsonian, BookRiot and Plate. It was also a semifinalist in the 2018 Goodreads Choice Awards.
Kevin Fitzpatrick, chair of the One Book, One Community committee reflected on the selection: “Ed Lee is a master chef with a particularly keen sociological insight. He manages to use that perspective to frame some very fascinating conversations with people about the food they grew up with and now the food that many of them are cooking as an important representation of their cultural heritage.”
Lee is the chef and owner of 610 Magnolia, MilkWood and Whiskey Dry in Louisville, Kentucky, and the culinary director for Succotash in National Harbor, Maryland, and Penn Quarter, D.C. He was the recipient of the 2019 James Beard Foundation award for Buttermilk Graffiti and has also been a six-time finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast.
All recipes will be available for free to the community. To submit your recipe or see what others have submitted, please visit buttermilkgraffiti.uark.edu. Lee will also visit campus for a public presentation and book signing Thursday, Oct. 7. Details on the event location and ticket access will be released soon. For more details, please visit onebook.uark.edu.
