Adrian Miller

{{for|the American music entertainment executive|Adrian L. Miller}}

{{Infobox person

|name = Adrian Miller

|image = Adrian miller 2797.JPG

|image_upright =

|caption = Miller at the 2014 National Book Festival in Washington, DC

|birth_name =

|birth_date =

|birth_place =

|nationality = American

|alma_mater = Smoky Hill High School
Stanford University
Georgetown University Law School

|occupation = Culinary historian, policy advisor

|notable_works = Soul Food
The President's Kitchen Cabinet

|awards = James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship

|website = {{URL|adrianemiller.com}}

}}

Adrian Miller is an American culinary historian, lawyer and public policy advisor. His books have twice won the James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship: Soul Food in 2014 and Black Smoke in 2022. He is also the author of The President's Kitchen Cabinet, which was nominated for a 2018 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction. He also served as a White House advisor to U.S. president Bill Clinton.

Early life and education

After graduating from Smoky Hill High School in Aurora, Colorado, Miller attended Stanford University, where he was resident counselor to David O. Sacks.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/23/us/gender-gaps-stanford-94.html|title=For Stanford Class of '94, a Gender Gap More Powerful Than the Internet|last=Kantor|first=Jodi|date=December 22, 2014|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 15, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} Miller graduated on April 4, 1991, with a bachelor's degree in international relations.{{Cite web|url=http://sul-derivatives.stanford.edu/derivative?CSNID=00002307&mediaType=application/pdf|title=Centennial Year Commencement Exercises|date=June 16, 1991|website=Stanford University|access-date=March 31, 2021|archive-date=December 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222100930/http://sul-derivatives.stanford.edu/derivative?CSNID=00002307&mediaType=application%2Fpdf|url-status=dead}} He next attended Georgetown University Law School, where he earned a J.D. in 1995.{{Cite web|url=https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/events/details?event_id=15273|title=The Soul Food Scholar|website=alumni.stanford.edu|access-date=April 15, 2018}}

Career

Miller served as a special assistant to the president in the Clinton Administration and deputy director of the President's Initiative for One America. He resigned after George W. Bush took office and between jobs, Miller took an interest in food writing, inspired by John Egerton's book Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in History. The interest developed into a book, Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time, which he published with the University of North Carolina Press in 2013{{cite news|title=SOUL FOOD by Adrian Miller|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/adrian-miller/soul-food/|access-date=April 15, 2018|work=Kirkus Reviews|date=June 17, 2013|language=en-us}} and which won the 2014 James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship.{{cite news|last1=Porter|first1=William|title=Denver author Adrian Miller wins James Beard award for "Soul Food"|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2014/05/03/denver-author-adrian-miller-wins-james-beard-award-for-soul-food/|access-date=April 15, 2018|work=The Denver Post|date=May 3, 2014}} It was also named a non-fiction honor book by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.{{Cite news|url=http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2014/02/bcala-announces-2014-literary-awards-winners|title=BCALA announces winners of 2014 Literary Awards|date=2014-02-07|work=News and Press Center|access-date=2018-05-19|publisher=American Library Association|language=en}} Soul Food combines archival research with Miller's own travels (visiting 150 restaurants in 35 cities){{cite journal|last1=Presley|first1=John|date=December 1, 2014|title=Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time AdrianMiller. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013.|journal=The Journal of American Culture|language=en|volume=37|issue=4|pages=436–437|doi=10.1111/jacc.12279|issn=1542-734X}} to survey the way the food culture of the Southern United States has been "reestablished and reinterpreted" as African-Americans moved to other parts of the country, using the lens of diaspora to interpret this evolution.{{cite journal|last1=Engelhardt|first1=Elizabeth S. D.|date=February 1, 2015|title=Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time|url=https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-401379715/soul-food-the-surprising-story-of-an-american-cuisine|journal=The Journal of Southern History|language=en|volume=81|issue=1|issn=0022-4642|access-date=April 15, 2018}}

While researching his first book, Miller particularly began collecting historical traces of African-Americans who had staffed the White House kitchen. This became the subject of his second book, The President's Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, from the Washingtons to the Obamas, published in 2017 (again with the University of North Carolina Press).{{cite news|last1=Collazo|first1=Julie Schwietert|title=The Soul of the White House: Adrian Miller's The President's Kitchen Cabinet|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/05/adrian-miller-book-review.html|access-date=April 15, 2018|work=Paste|date=May 2, 2017|language=en}} In the course of research, Miller was able to identify the names of 150 African-Americans who cooked in the White House, though there were many more who remain unnamed.{{cite news|last1=Schlichenmeyer|first1=Terri|title=Historic tidbits fill 'The President's Kitchen Cabinet'|url=http://www.phillytrib.com/lifestyle/historic-tidbits-fill-the-president-s-kitchen-cabinet/article_e2b27746-fc77-56fb-a354-1a3d1459e5a3.html|access-date=April 15, 2018|work=The Philadelphia Tribune|date=May 19, 2017|language=en}} The book earned a nomination for the 2018 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Nonfiction.{{cite news|last1=Haring|first1=Bruce|title=NAACP Image Awards Nominees: Netflix, OWN Lead In TV; Universal, Annapurna, Open Road Top Film|url=https://deadline.com/2017/11/naacp-image-awards-netflix-own-annapurna-universal-pictures-open-road-films-anthony-anderson-1202212017/|access-date=April 15, 2018|work=Deadline|date=November 20, 2017}}

Miller is a member of the board of the Southern Foodways Alliance and a certified barbecue competition judge. His third book, published in 2021, is Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue. Black Smoke traces the history of Black barbecuers, pitmasters, and restaurateurs and their role in barbecue culture. It also includes 22 recipes. It won the 2022 James Beard Foundation Award for a book in the category of Reference, History, and Scholarship.{{Cite web |author=Eater Staff |date=2022-06-11 |title=Here Are the 2022 James Beard Foundation Media Award Winners |url=https://www.eater.com/2022/6/11/23164075/james-beard-foundation-awards-2022-media-winners-cookbooks-journalism |access-date=2022-06-12 |website=Eater |language=en}}

Meanwhile, Miller also served as policy analyst for Colorado governor Bill Ritter. He is the executive director for the Colorado Council of Churches.