Q: What inspired you to begin work as a culinary historian?

After I finished my stint in the Clinton White House, I was browsing the cookbook section of a D.C. bookstore when I saw John Egerton’s Southern Food: At Home, On the Road, In History. Early in that book, Egerton wrote: “But the comprehensive history of black achievement in American cookery still waits to be written.” I was intrigued. Since the book was 14 years old, I emailed Egerton to see if he still believed that. He replied that the work had yet to be done. There’s always room for another voice; why not mine?

Q: How much of your upbringing influenced your pursuits as a culinary historian and author?

I was blessed to live in a household of good cooks. My mother, Johnetta Miller, and my father, Hyman Miller, Sr., were respectively from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Helena, Arkansas. They independently moved to Denver, Colorado, where they met. They continued to make soul food while I grew up in a predominantly white Denver suburb. So, I’ve always felt connected to African American foodways, even though I didn’t fully appreciate it. Watching my parents cook made me curious about how cooking worked. Then I learned that my paternal grandfather was a railroad cook and some of the older men at my church were professional cooks. That deepened my sense that there was a lot of Black excellence in the culinary field. My parents always encouraged my curiosity, and with the critical thinking skills that I learned along the way, I was poised to pursue a side hustle in culinary history.

Q: Why is it important to highlight and uplift Black contributions to American cuisine?

If we don’t make an effort to persistently celebrate Black contributions to American cuisine, Black excellence in cooking will go from underappreciated to unappreciated. We’ve already seen it happen—specifically with barbecue and the Creole cooking of New Orleans and with southern food in general. For quite a while, white chefs have gotten the most media love when it comes to those cuisines. How can we change the current narrative about the traditional cuisines in the American South to be more inclusive and acknowledge the tremendous debt owed to African American cooks?

Q: Having already written two books, Soul Food and The President’s Kitchen Cabinet, on the impact and influence of Blacks and their contributions to America’s culinary history, what inspired you to write Black Smoke, focused solely on Blacks’ contributions to barbecue?

I got tired of the endless parade of media that fell softly, madly and deeply in love with white dudes who barbecue. I watched supposedly definitive hour-long television shows and read voluminous books about barbecue, and most didn’t have any Black people at all. Also, there were several barbecue halls of fame that had weak African American representation. None of this squared with my own experience. I knew how deeply barbecue was a part of Black culture and that if you were going to talk about American barbecue, you had to include African Americans. Black Smoke explains why. I’m so honored to share the stories of the unheralded people who helped shape one of the most popular foods in the world.

Q: How did you go about searching for pit masters and recipes for Black Smoke?

Most of the fascinating information that I got on Black barbecuers came from historical newspapers. It makes sense because newspapers chronicle the daily life of a community and journalists are more apt to get details that one is unlikely to find in a book. Barbecue people are some of the most secretive people around, especially with recipes. Some of it was trial and error from trying recipes in really old cookbooks, but much of it was the generosity of the people I profiled in my book.

Q: How has writing your books allowed you to build relationships with Ed and Ryan Mitchell, as well as other Black pitmasters across the nation?

It was so much fun getting to know African American barbecuers and devouring their food as I ate my way across the country, all for the sake of “research.” Knowing how painstakingly hard it is to barbecue the old-school way, I was grateful for their time as I interviewed. I gained a deeper sense of how place and tradition had a symbiotic relationship. After Black Smoke was published, several barbecue people reached out to me to share how much they love the book and that they’re telling others about it. I was tremendously honored when Matt Horn, one of barbecue’s rising stars, asked me to write the foreword to his new cookbook. I get the feeling that African American barbecuers believe that I’ve given voice to their collective desire for respect.

Q: As we approach the Juneteenth holiday (celebrated on June 19), what role do you see food playing in those celebrations?

Juneteenth has always been viewed as a communal holiday where people from all walks of life solemnly mark the occasion of enslaved African Americans getting the delayed news of freedom, celebrate our collective endurance and resiliency, and reinforce social ties. Red has become a significant color for the holiday because it symbolizes the blood shed by our enslaved African ancestors. Since Juneteenth is a summer holiday, it’s not surprising that “must-have” redcolored foods and drinks include barbecue (made red by slathering in sauce); cherry, fruit punch or strawberry beverages; and watermelon. In recent years, red velvet cake has also been added to the Juneteenth table.

Q: What are other little known or rarely discussed contributions of Black Americans to the culinary history of the United States that you look forward to exploring in the future?

A few subjects are floating around in my head. I’d like to write about African American street vendors and the ways that they’ve shaped the food scenes of America’s greatest cities. I’m interested in how Juneteenth spread across the country. I’m definitely going to write about Black history in Colorado. Yes, we have Black people in Colorado, and we’ve done a lot of next-level things in this area of the country since the early 19th century. Another possibility is to write about the spread of soul food around the globe, primarily thanks to Black military veterans and musicians. So many books to write and so little time!

Q: Given your years of experience, what are some ingredients that all great barbecue must have?

Great barbecue needs meat trimmed of some fat; a little salt, pepper or some type of chile powder; some sort of tenderizer; and a rub that has just a little bit of sweet—could be brown sugar. You don't want too much of the latter because it would burn if you're cooking directly over a heat source.

Q: What is your favorite way to enjoy barbecue?

The best way to enjoy barbecue is with other people: family, a good group of friends, my church family or at some community event.