Lewis, Edna Regina

▪ 2007

      American author and chef (b. April 13, 1916, Freetown, Va.—d. Feb. 13, 2006, Decatur, Ga.), was renowned for her traditional Southern recipes, which she collected in The Taste of Country Cooking (1976), In Pursuit of Flavor (1988; with Mary Goodbody), and The Gift of Southern Cooking (2003; with Scott Peacock). Having encountered racial prejudices after moving to New York City in the 1940s, Lewis worked in a laundry and as a seamstress before John Nicholson, an acquaintance who had dined at her home, opened Café Nicholson in 1949 and persuaded her to do the cooking. Her authentic Southern cuisine became a hit, but her husband did not approve of the bourgeois character of the café and prevailed upon her to leave in 1954. Later, while recovering from a broken leg, Lewis recorded her recipes on paper and launched a career as an author.

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