Damon Lee Fowler
Biographical Sketch
Damon Lee Fowler is a nationally recognized authority on Southern cooking and its history. He was born in north Georgia and grew up in upstate South Carolina. After receiving a Master of Architecture from Clemson University, he practiced architecture for more than a decade before turning to food writing, teaching, and culinary history. He is the author of six critically acclaimed cookbooks: Classical Southern Cooking: A Celebration of the Cuisine of the Old South which was nominated for two Julia Child cookbook awards (including the Jane Grigson award for scholarship) and a James Beard Foundation award; Beans, Greens, and Sweet Georgia Peaches; Fried Chicken: The World’s Best Recipes; Damon Lee Fowler’s New Southern Kitchen; Damon Lee Fowler’s New Southern Baking and, most recently, The Savannah Cookbook.
He has also written historical commentary for three historical cookbooks, was recipe developer and editor for Dining at Monticello: In Good Taste and Abundance, and his work has appeared in many national publications, including Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Relish, Cornbread Nation (a journal of the South’s best food writing), The Charlotte Observer, The St Petersburg Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,and Southern Voice.
Fowler is active both nationally and locally in culinary circles, and is a founding board member and past president of the Southern Foodways Alliance. He lives in Savannah, Georgia, where, aside from his work as a food writer, lecturer, cooking teacher, and culinary historian, he is the featured food writer for the Savannah Morning News and culinary director of Kitchenware Outfitters, Inc.
Cookbooks and Commentary by Damon Lee Fowler
Classical Southern Cooking: A Celebration of the Cuisine of the Old South. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1995. Revised edition: Gibbs-Smith Publishers, September 2008.
Mrs. Hill’s Southern Practical Cookery and Receipt Book by Annabella P. Hill. Facsimile reprint of the 1872 edition with historical commentary by Damon Lee Fowler. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995.
Beans, Greens, and Sweet Georgia Peaches: The Southern Way of Cooking Fruits and Vegetables. New York: Broadway Books, 1998.
Fried Chicken: The World’s Best Recipes from Memphis to Milan, from Buffalo to Bangkok. New York: Broadway Books, 1999.
Damon Lee Fowler’s New Southern Kitchen: Traditional Flavors for Today’s Cooks. New York, Simon & Schuster, 2002.
Pickles and Preserves by Marion Brown. Facsimile reprint of the original 1955 edition with introduction and historical notes by Damon Lee Fowler. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Dining at Monticello: In Good Taste and Abundance (editor and recipe developer). A cookbook and historical sketch of Thomas Jefferson’s famed table at Monticello, featuring authentic family recipes translated for use in a modern kitchen. Charlottesville: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2005.
Damon Lee Fowler’s New Southern Baking: Traditional Flavors for Today’s Cooks. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.
Mrs. Dull’s Southern Cooking, by Henrietta Stanley Dull, a reprint of the definitive 1941 edition with historical commentary by Damon Lee Fowler. Athens: University of Georgia Press, Fall 2006.
The Savannah Cookbook. Gibbs-Smith Publishers, May 2008.