Adrian Miller
Miller at the 2014 National Book Festival in Washington, DC
NationalityAmerican
Alma materSmoky Hill High School
Stanford University
Georgetown University Law School
Occupation(s)Culinary historian, policy advisor
Notable workSoul Food
The President's Kitchen Cabinet
AwardsJames Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship
Websiteadrianemiller.com

Adrian Miller is an American culinary historian, lawyer and public policy advisor. His books have twice won the James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship: Soul Food in 2014 and Black Smoke in 2022. He is also the author of The President's Kitchen Cabinet, which was nominated for a 2018 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction. He also served as a White House advisor to U.S. president Bill Clinton.

Early life and education

After graduating from Smoky Hill High School in Aurora, Colorado,[1] Miller attended Stanford University,[2] where he was resident counselor to David O. Sacks.[3] Miller graduated on April 4, 1991, with a bachelor's degree in international relations.[2] He next attended Georgetown University Law School, where he earned a J.D. in 1995.[4]

Career

Miller served as a special assistant to the president in the Clinton Administration and deputy director of the President's Initiative for One America.[5] He resigned after George W. Bush took office and between jobs, Miller took an interest in food writing, inspired by John Egerton's book Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in History.[5] The interest developed into a book, Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time, which he published with the University of North Carolina Press in 2013[6] and which won the 2014 James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship.[1] It was also named a non-fiction honor book by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.[7] Soul Food combines archival research with Miller's own travels (visiting 150 restaurants in 35 cities)[8] to survey the way the food culture of the Southern United States has been "reestablished and reinterpreted" as African-Americans moved to other parts of the country, using the lens of diaspora to interpret this evolution.[9]

While researching his first book, Miller particularly began collecting historical traces of African-Americans who had staffed the White House kitchen. This became the subject of 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, published in 2017 (again with the University of North Carolina Press).[5] In the course of research, Miller was able to identify the names of 150 African-Americans who cooked in the White House, though there were many more who remain unnamed.[10] The book earned a nomination for the 2018 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Nonfiction.[11]

Miller is a member of the board of the Southern Foodways Alliance and a certified barbecue competition judge.[8] His third book, published in 2021, is Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue. Black Smoke traces the history of Black barbecuers, pitmasters, and restaurateurs and their role in barbecue culture. It also includes 22 recipes. It won the 2022 James Beard Foundation Award for a book in the category of Reference, History, and Scholarship.[12]

Meanwhile, Miller also served as policy analyst for Colorado governor Bill Ritter.[1] He is the executive director for the Colorado Council of Churches.[1]

Personal life

Miller lives in Denver, Colorado.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Porter, William (May 3, 2014). "Denver author Adrian Miller wins James Beard award for "Soul Food"". The Denver Post. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Centennial Year Commencement Exercises". Stanford University. June 16, 1991. Archived from the original on December 22, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  3. ↑ Kantor, Jodi (December 22, 2014). "For Stanford Class of '94, a Gender Gap More Powerful Than the Internet". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  4. ↑ "The Soul Food Scholar". alumni.stanford.edu. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 Collazo, Julie Schwietert (May 2, 2017). "The Soul of the White House: Adrian Miller's The President's Kitchen Cabinet". Paste. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  6. ↑ "SOUL FOOD by Adrian Miller". Kirkus Reviews. June 17, 2013. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  7. ↑ "BCALA announces winners of 2014 Literary Awards". News and Press Center. American Library Association. February 7, 2014. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  8. 1 2 Presley, John (December 1, 2014). "Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time AdrianMiller. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013". The Journal of American Culture. 37 (4): 436–437. doi:10.1111/jacc.12279. ISSN 1542-734X.
  9. ↑ Engelhardt, Elizabeth S. D. (February 1, 2015). "Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time". The Journal of Southern History. 81 (1). ISSN 0022-4642. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  10. ↑ Schlichenmeyer, Terri (May 19, 2017). "Historic tidbits fill 'The President's Kitchen Cabinet'". The Philadelphia Tribune. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  11. ↑ Haring, Bruce (November 20, 2017). "NAACP Image Awards Nominees: Netflix, OWN Lead In TV; Universal, Annapurna, Open Road Top Film". Deadline. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  12. ↑ Eater Staff (June 11, 2022). "Here Are the 2022 James Beard Foundation Media Award Winners". Eater. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
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