Chef Vivian Howard, star and co-creator of the award-winning PBS shows, A Chef's Life and Somewhere South, has announced the next lineup of authors for Viv’s Book Club, her monthly salon-style conversation with authors at Lenoir, her downtown Charleston restaurant.
The authors including James Beard award-winning chef Steven Satterfield, North Carolina pit master Ed Mitchell, and Dopesick author Beth Macy, among others. Each author will discuss their books on a wide range of topics, including food waste, vegetable cookery, barbecue, Southern foodways and the opiod epidemic.
“During the pandemic I made a pact with myself that I was not going to participate in any events that I wouldn't want to attend myself,” Vivian Howard said. “Over the last year, we've created this magical salon-style event with authors from many genres and the lineup for 2023 blows my mind. From journalist Beth Macy, to cookbook author Amy Thielen, to Food Waste Feast bloggers Margaret and Irene Li, and all the folks in between, I'm just thrilled join them in conversation with the Charleston community.”
Here are details from the restaurant about each upcoming event:
May 21: Margaret and Irene Li wrote “Perfectly Good Food: A Totally Achievable Zero Waste Approach to Home Cooking.” The sisters, along with their older brother, Andy Li, started Mei Mei Dumplings, a Boston food truck that became an acclaimed restaurant and transitioned to a dumpling factory, cafe and classroom. The sisters also co-wrote the award-winning cookbook, “Double Awesome Chinese Food,” and created Food Waste Feast, an online resource for cooks aiming to reduce food waste. Their new book, “Perfectly Good Food,” is a crucial resource for the thrifty chef, the environmentally mindful cook and anyone looking to make the most of their ingredients. Tickets cost $65.
June 10: James Beard award-winning chef Steven Satterfield, co-owner of Miller Union in Atlanta, has a new cookbook, “Vegetable Revelations: Inspiration for Produce-Forward Cooking.” At Miller Union, Satterfield is known for dishes that showcase and enhance seasonal ingredients without over-manipulating, enabling the products to shine. New York Times food writer Sam Sifton declared that Satterfield was “The Vegetable Shaman” in a review of his first cookbook, “Root to Leaf.” (Note: this event is being held on a Saturday instead of the usual Sunday.) Tickets cost $85.
July 16: Southern foodways historian Marcie Ferris, is the author of “The Edible South: The Power of Food and the Making of an American Region,” and “Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales from the Jewish South.” She is a professor emerita of American Studies at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her most recent book, “Edible North Carolina: A Journey Across a State of Flavor,” offers a 360-degree view of a state known for its farming and food, with compelling essays from leading North Carolina writers, cooks, farmers, entrepreneurs, and food equity activists. Tickets cost $70.
Aug. 27: Legendary North Carolina pit masters Ed and Ryan Mitchell, along with co-author Zella Palmer, will discuss “Ed Mitchell’s Barbeque.” In the book, father and son offer a masterclass in the art of authentic whole hog barbecue. Co-author Zella Palmer has helped create a cookbook filled with mouthwatering recipes and vivid Mitchell family stories as well as a work of cultural history that traces the arc of the African American experience in the rural South. Tickets cost $70.
Sept. 24: New York Times bestselling author Beth Macy is a Virginia-based journalist, the author of “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America,” and an executive producer and co-writer on Hulu's Peabody Award-winning “Dopesick” series. Her other books include “Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis,” “Truevine” and “Factory Man.” Tickets cost $70.
Oct. 22: James Beard award-winning cookbook author Amy Thielen has released her latest cookbook, “Company: The Radically Casual Art of Cooking for Others.” Thielen’s latest is the much-anticipated follow-up to her award-winning, “The New Midwestern Table” and her memoir, “Give a Girl a Knife.” Thielen also hosted “Heartland Table” on The Food Network. Tickets cost $75.
Each event is from 2-4 p.m. and begin with a cocktail and conversation between Vivian and the author, followed by a book signing and meet-and-greet with bites and drinks often inspired by the books and prepared by the team at Lenoir. The events are done in collaboration with Buxton Books, whose sellers will be on hand to sell additional copies of the book and other titles by the authors.
To buy tickets to each event, go to https://resy.com/cities/chs/
Lenoir is located a block off King Street in downtown Charleston at 68 Wentworth St. adjacent to the Renaissance Charleston Historic District Hotel. The restaurant offers the cuisine of the rural, agrarian South and distinctive cocktails. Lenoir’s bar opens at 4 p.m. and dinner service starts at 5 p.m. Open until 11 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday and until 12 a.m. Friday and Saturday. For more information, go to dineatlenoir.com.
