Piece of The Pie --Dr. Jessica B Harris

​Answering the phone for our mid-morning interview, Dr. Jessica B. Harris eagerly awaits the questions I have to ask. With only 15 minutes of her schedule allocated to our conversation I try to make the most of it. However, her extensive resume would take longer than 15 minutes to comb through. Dr. Harris’s career has spanned four decades as a journalist and culinary historian. She was the travel editor for Essence in the 1970’s and has published twelve successful cookbooks studying the cuisine of the African Diaspora.
 
With accomplishments of that magnitude in her rearview, she looks ahead to an important phase of life which is retirement. This starts with cleaning out her office at 

Queen’s college after being an English professor there for 50 years and her home which has accumulated about 10,000 books according to her estimations.
 
“Yesterday I was sifting through stuff that went back to 1973 and that’s not the earliest stuff I have. I’ve got some stuff there that goes back to the late 60’s early 70’s,” she said.
During our conversation Dr. Harris jokes about being a pack rat who can find things of value and keep them. But, the books and other tangible items that she has held onto for decades serve a greater purpose other than keeping them for herself.
 
“It really is sort of memory lane but it’s also about making sure that folks who weren’t there may have in some cases a lens into there. I’m tossing an awful lot of stuff but even with the tossing of it I’m trying to be mindful and be careful to not forget that I probably am the institutional memory of the SEEK program at Queens college,” she said.

​Once she decides on what items she would like to keep, she plans on allowing students from the program to go through the items as well in case there’s anything that they might find useful to keep.
 
In addition to downsizing, Dr. Harris offers a glimpse into the books she’s currently working on some of which will build upon the foundation she has already set with her previous books. She carefully describes to me what to expect from the books because many of the projects that she’s working on are not ready to be fully disclosed yet.

“But I’m definitely working on another valent of the memoir My Soul Looks Back and another book that’s going to be parallel to High On the Hog but about a different part of the world and a different set of folks,” she added.
 
As a culinary historian, Dr. Harris has seen and experienced the evolution of African-American cooking throughout decades. Trying to compartmentalize this evolution into one statement is impossible as she assured me that it would at least five books to describe it. However, it’s safe to say that she will continue to write about this ongoing evolution and continue to be a wealth of knowledge to those who want to learn about the food and foodways of the African Diaspora.

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By Alexandria Brooks

My name is Alexandria Brooks. I'm a junior journalism major who is passionate and curious about the world. When I'm not writing I'm probably making a latte or endlessly scrolling through Instagram. One I hope to have my own creative platform to showcase my writing and photography!