U of A's 14th Annual 'One Book, One Community' Event Returns in 2021

Photo by Jolea Brown

Edward Lee

Picking up where the group left off after events were canceled in 2020 due to the global pandemic, this year’s One Book, One Community committee selection is Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting Pot Cuisine, highlighting the connection between our multicultural society and the food we grow, prepare and eat.

Written by award-winning chef Edward Lee, Buttermilk Graffiti explores the intersection of food and culture as Lee takes a trip across America, experiencing exceptional food in unconventional places.

The book has been named a Best Food Book of the Year by the Boston Globe, Smithsonian, BookRiot and Plate. It was also a semifinalist in the 2018 Goodreads Choice Awards.

Kevin Fitzpatrick, chair of the One Book, One Community committee reflected on the selection: “Ed Lee is a master chef with a particularly keen sociological insight. He manages to use that perspective to frame some very fascinating conversations with people about the food they grew up with and now the food that many of them are cooking as an important representation of their cultural heritage.”

Fitzpatrick, who is also University Professor and the Jones Chair in Community in the Department of Sociology and Criminology, added that “every one of us has a story to tell about how we are connected to food through our culture, family and places that we’ve lived. Ed’s book and visit is going to stimulate an important set of conversations around food in Northwest Arkansas.”

Lee is the chef and owner of 610 Magnolia, MilkWood and Whiskey Dry in Louisville, Kentucky, and the culinary director for Succotash in National Harbor, Maryland, and Penn Quarter, D.C.

He was the recipient of the 2019 James Beard Foundation award for Buttermilk Graffiti and has also been a six-time finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast.

“As we begin our return to hosting events, we are excited to finally share this read with our community. We are incorporating new features into this year’s experience and we can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on,” Fitzpatrick said.

To encourage these conversations around food in Northwest Arkansas, the One Book, One Community committee also recently launched a website dedicated to collecting recipe submissions from the community.

All recipes will be available for free to the community. To submit your recipe or see what others have submitted, please visit buttermilkgraffiti.uark.edu.

Lee will also visit campus for a public presentation and book signing Thursday, Oct. 7. Details on the event location and ticket access will be released soon. For more details, please visit onebook.uark.edu.

About the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences: Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is the largest and most academically diverse unit on the University of Arkansas campus, with three schools, 16 departments and 43 academic programs and research centers. The college also provides the majority of the core curriculum for all U of A students.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas’ economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the top 3% of U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research News.