Culinary Historians of San Diego will present “Does Soul Food Need a Warning Label?”, with James Beard Award winner Adrian Miller, at 10:30 a.m. October 19, in the Neil Morgan Auditorium of the San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd. Miller will enlighten and entertain us with his extensive knowledge of soul food. What soul food is, and its surprisingly long and fascinating history, origins, misconceptions and delights will all be explained in full. Adrian received an A.B in International Relations from Stanford University in 1991, and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1995. From 1999 to 2001, Miller served as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton with his Initiative for One America – the first free-standing office in the White House to address issues of racial, religious and ethnic reconciliation. Miller went on to serve as a senior policy analyst for Colorado Governor Bill Ritter Jr. From 2004 to 2010, he served on the board for the Southern Foodways Alliance. In June 2019, Adrian lectured in the Masters of Gastronomy program at the Università di Scienze Gastronomiche (nicknamed the “Slow Food University”) in Pollenzo, Italy. He is currently the executive director of the Colorado Council of Churches and, as such, is the first African American, and the first layperson, to hold that position. In 2018, Adrian was awarded the Ruth Fertel “Keeper of the Flame” Award by the Southern Foodways Alliance, in recognition of his work on African American Foodways. His first book Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time, won the James Beard Award for Scholarship and Reference in 2014. His second book, The President’s Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed our First Families, From the Washingtons to the Obamas was published on Presidents Day, 2017. Adrian’s third book, Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue, appeared in 2021. The event is free and open to the public. A Q &A and tasting will follow Adrian’s presentation. Visit: Culinary Historians of San Diego Culinary Historians of San Diego on Instagram and Facebook
