Les Dames d’Escoffier Philadelphia and the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscript will host this Juneteenth event, which will begin with light refreshments based on recipes from Lewis’ cookbooks and a display of her cookbooks in the Lea Library. Following the screening of Finding Edna Lewis, there will be a discussion with Debra Freeman, the executive producer and host of this documentary, and Chef Valerie Erwin, known for her critically acclaimed Geechee Girl Rice Café, which closed in 2015.

About the documentary:

From Freetown, Virginia, to New York City, Edna Lewis carved a remarkable path. She introduced many Americans to seasonal cooking, Southern cooking — the cooking of the Black community in rural Virginia that raised her. Yet despite a life that included fame and acclaim, she is not a household name.