Finding Edna Lewis: Documentary Screening and Discussion with Deb Freeman and Chef Valerie Erwin
This Juneteenth event will celebrate renowned chef, teacher, and author Edna Lewis with a documentary screening, discussion, and display of her cookbooks as well as tastings of some of her recipes.
This event has already occurred
Hosted by: Kislak Center
Admission is free for Penn students, faculty, and staff; members of the public must purchase tickets through Les Dames d'Escoffier.
The Juneteenth event hosted by Les Dames d’Escoffier Philadelphia and the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts will begin with light refreshments based on recipes from Lewis’ cookbooks and a display of her cookbooks in the Lea Library. Following the screening of Finding Edna Lewis, there will be a discussion with Debra Freeman, the executive producer and host of this documentary, and Chef Valerie Erwin, known for her critically acclaimed Geechee Girl Rice Café, which closed in 2015.
About the documentary:
From Freetown, Virginia, to New York City, Edna Lewis carved a remarkable path. She introduced many Americans to seasonal cooking, Southern cooking — the cooking of the Black community in rural Virginia that raised her. Yet despite a life that included fame and acclaim, she is not a household name.