WNC gardener wins Beard Award for book

Garden writer Chris Smith, a frequent contributor to Smoky Mountain Living magazine, has been awarded a 2020 James Beard Award in the Reference, History, and Scholarship category for his book The Whole Okra.

Forbes calls The Whole Okra, “…a wonderful compendium on the often-misunderstood vegetable." And Food52 writes: ”This deep-dive celebration of a single ingredient is an unexpectedly captivating read. Getting to know misunderstood vegetables, like okra, is an important aspect of creating diversity in our food system.”

Michael W. Twitty, author of The Cooking Gene, the 2018 James Beard Foundation Book of the Year, said Smith’s book “is anything and everything you wanted to know about this hallmark ingredient.”

The book was published by Chelsea Green Publishing, a leading publisher of books on the politics and practice of sustainable living.

Smith, as the community coordinator of Sow True Seed, wrote a popular series of gardening columns for Smoky Mountain Living.

He is now heading up a non-profit called The Utopian Seed Project, his long-term vision “to develop a regional seed hub that can support, encourage and celebrate a diverse food system of regionally adapted crops.”

The Whole Okra is Smith’s first book, which Chef Sean Brock said is "a long-anticipated contribution to the foodways of the American South.”