Author and historian Jessica B. Harris '68 has been awarded the
鈥淚 am humbled, honored, and more than a little astonished to receive this singular award. I am mindful that while my name is on it, it is also meant for those African Americans in the hospitality world in the past who labored unheralded, un-thanked, and for too many centuries unpaid or underpaid. I hope that this extraordinary honor heralds the beginning of a new era when all Americans can sit down and fully participate at the nation鈥檚 table and none of us are strangers at the feast,鈥 said Harris in the
Harris is an author, editor, and translator of 18 books. Her 12 works on food document the foodways of the African Diaspora鈥攁 topic on which she is considered a ranking expert鈥攁nd include Hot Stuff: A Cookbook in Praise of the Piquant; Iron Pots and Wooden Spoons: Africa鈥檚 Gifts to New World Cooking; Beyond Gumbo: Creole Fusion Food from the Atlantic Rim; and High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America. Her other works include My Soul Looks Back: A Memoir and the forthcoming Vintage Postcards from the African World, a work presenting images of the foodways and celebrations of the African Atlantic World. A culinary historian, Harris lectures internationally, is a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, and served on numerous boards for many professional culinary, publishing, and editorial organizations. Harris is Professor Emerita at Queens College/CUNY in New York City, where she was a professor for 50 years. Harris was a French major at 老王论坛.