House of Smoke
The author of The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South tells his own story this time. Of growing up in a house wrecked by violence and a South haunted by racism. And of how his search for home led him to find escape and belonging through food. Until he realizes that gathering at table is just one small step toward reckoning.
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“This is a story of one Southern man, who has become a trusted and beloved voice, but it landed on me as the story of all Southern men — me, and you, and everyone we’ve ever known. House of Smoke is ultimately a story for all Americans on a path to self-awareness, honesty, and love. ” - Wright Thompson, author, The Barn
“Making no excuses for his ancestors, John T Edge shines light on the troubled soils from which he grew, telling a story from the South that burns bright.” - Joe Kwon, cellist, The Avett Brothers
"John T Edge's story lays open the collective soul of the South." - Frank Stitt, chef and cofounder, Highlands Bar & Grill
“House of Smoke is a heart-wrenching reckoning of the truths that remain after the world you think you know—your home, your homeland, your life’s work, your very self—is reduced to ruins. More than a white Southerner’s quest to become fully awake to a past that will never be past, this book is a model for nurturing the new life that can rise out of the deepest ashes.” - Margaret Renkl, author, Graceland, At Last
"Navigating the ingrained cultural tensions that haunt the South, John T. Edge reveals how pain distorts identity and success breeds unintended harm. This raw and honest portrait of self-discovery is a must-read for anyone who has ever questioned where they truly belong." - Erick Williams, founder, Virtue Hospitality Group
“John T. Edge refuses to allow himself or the reader the comfort of spectacle here. He does that Mississippi work and creates a lush, self reflexive Southern monument that will last forever.” - Kiese Laymon, author, Heavy
In this unflinching and moving memoir, John T. Edge takes us on a quest for home in a South that has both held him close and pushed him away, as he tries and fails and tries again to rewrite the stories he inherited. Born in a house where a Confederate general took his first breath and the Lost Cause narrative was gospel, troubled by the violence he witnessed as a boy, Edge ran from his past, searching for a newer and better South. As founding director of the Southern Foodways Alliance and a contributor to newspapers and magazines, he told stories that showcased those possibilities.
In the process, Edge became one of the most visible and powerful voices in American food... until he found himself challenged by the audience he once guided, faced down the limits of his work, and returned to his origins to find himself once again. Beginning in Georgia and concluding in Mississippi, his search spans the Deep South and charts a very American story of the truth telling and soul searching it takes to love your people and your place.
Book Jacket painting by Noah Saterstrom