Fried Chicken and Sweet Potato Pie

This award-winning film is a short biography of Edna Lewis, a prominent Southern chef and cookbook author who preserved the history and the evolution of southern food in her cooking, books and her collaboration with Scott Peacock, former Executive Chef at Watershed Restaurant in Atlanta.

Post-slavery life in the South, the ancestry of Southern food, racism, aging and gender all come together in the story of Miss Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock.

The granddaughter of freed slaves, Edna Lewis grew up on a farm in Virginia. She learned from her observations of the cycles of nature and the complex relationships between the races in the rural South of the early 20th Century how to make her way in the world.

Edna Lewis possessed composure and self-assurance beyond her years. With her regal appearance and quiet patience and humor, she gained the respect of all she met.

She made her connection to others through food. Food represents the convergence of place, history and culture as well as the diversity inherent in those things. It also fosters relationships and an understanding of what brings us together and what we can share, despite our differences.

This is shown in the film in 'flashbacks' to food and cooking collaborations over the years and through the caring and compassionate interactions between Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock.

Total running time: 21 minutes, 8 seconds.