He explores what makes the Black barbecue aesthetic exceptional and the many complexities of etiquette. 'An engaging storyteller, Miller brings his subjects to vivid life, as in the chapter on Black barbecue entrepreneurship, which predates Emancipation, with enslaved men and women using their business proceeds to buy freedom.

“Adrian Miller marshals considerable evidence to show in Black Smoke, his thorough, scholarly, enjoyable study barbecue is deeply rooted in African-American history and culture. Miller’s book highlights the fundamental racial interconnectedness that lies at the heart of American life, and the American table.”- The Economist “Miller brings African Americans back to center of smoked-meat narrative.”- Houston Chronicle Sets the record straight on who actually created barbecue.”- Daily Beast

Miller is creating a lexicon to ensure that these Black contributions to American culture can’t be written out of history.”- Washington Post “A trailblazing new volume that catalogues the contributions of Black men and women to American barbecue. details the history of barbecue back to its Indigenous roots in pre-Columbian days, and recounts how it became part of the culture of enslaved Africans.”- New York Times “ Black Smoke chronicles a rich culinary contribution. This beautifully illustrated chronicle also features 22 barbecue recipes collected just for this book.

Miller celebrates and restores the faces and stories of the men and women who have influenced this American cuisine. Though often pushed to the margins, African Americans have enriched a barbecue culture that has come to be embraced by all. It's a smoke-filled story of Black perseverance, culinary innovation, and entrepreneurship. In Black Smoke, Miller chronicles how Black barbecuers, pitmasters, and restauranteurs helped develop this cornerstone of American foodways and how they are coming into their own today. But why is it, asks Adrian Miller-admitted ’cuehead and longtime certified barbecue judge-that in today’s barbecue culture African Americans don't get much love? And people aren’t just eating it they’re also reading books and articles and watching TV shows about it. Prepared in one regional style or another, in the South and beyond, barbecue is one of the nation's most distinctive culinary arts. Across America, the pure love and popularity of barbecue cookery have gone through the roof.

Black smoke adrian miller