How to Be a Better Food Critic

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Ali Ward: I hope when you go over to people's houses for dinner, they don't get too nervous because it's like a cultural critic of food. Sometimes it can get a little dicey, but I'm like, "There's no pumpkin gate going on here" Ali says he lives his life through a lens of watching food stories and food issues unfold. So ask brilliant people basic questions because the answers are so complex and might change the way you see everything on your plate and the world.

What’s the difference between Southern cooking and “soul food?” Is there a correct type of mac and cheese? And whose business is it what you eat? (Hint: no one’s). Culinary historian, scholar of African American life and culture critic Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson is a professor at University of Maryland College Park and department chair in the Department of American Studies. She also authored the books “Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America” and “Building Houses out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power.” We chat about everything from oral traditions to “soul food” in popular culture, gendered roles in cooking, hyperlocal produce, systemic oppression and why someone would make chicken without seasoning it. On national television.

Visit Dr. Psyche Williams-Torson’s website and follow her on Instagram and Twitter

Buy Dr. Williams-Torson’s books: Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America and Building Houses out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power

A donation went to: Cultivate Charlottesville