The Food Section has only once before ventured into book reviewing, but with cultural criticism imperiled across the country, it seemed like the ideal time to experiment with cookbook assessments. Please let us know if you’d like to see more such columns!
Upon receiving Michael W. Twitty’s Recipes from the American South (Phaidon, October 2025), I immediately flipped to the recipe for Chess Pie. After my grandmother died, the responsibility for this family favorite fell to me. Twitty’s considerable research and experience as an antebellum historical interpreter has made him an authority on Southern food, so I was eager to compare his version to my passed-down recipe.
