Francis Lam is editor-at-large at Clarkson Potter. He appears at the Critics' Table in the fifth season of Top Chef Masters (Bravo). He was features editor at Gilt Taste, which was awarded six IACP awards and four James Beard award nominations in its first two years. His own writing has been nominated for a James Beard award and three IACP awards, winning one. He has served as senior writer at Salon.com and a contributing editor at Gourmet, and his work has appeared in the 2006-13 editions of Best Food Writing.

John T. Edge is the director of the Southern Foodways Alliance at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. He is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including the foodways volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.

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