Sara Franklin is an oral historian, journalist, instructor, and culinary and literary artist. Her writing captures the many stories behind what we eat, from her book Edna Lewis: At the Table With an American Original to her recent book The Phoenicia Diner Cookbook, which was the New York Times Book Review Best Cookbook of the Season. “The Diner’s rare knack for nudging nostalgia into a modern context is what makes it so special, and it’s all over this book: 272 pages of a gorgeous, inclusive, golden-yolked American Dream, where chilaquiles and Brunswick stew and patty melts and meatballs are all welcome and all make perfect sense,” says Food & Wine editor Jordana Rothman.

For Sara, food is not just in the kitchen – her training is in oral history, public health, and grassroots community development. She loves “feeding people and being fed, asking questions and trying to answer them, too”, and says her “garden, now, is the only place I can find a pool of stillness, can channel something of reality.”

She is currently working on her forthcoming book Taste Maker: The Remarkable Life of Judith Jones.

Sara lives in Kingston, New York.

Appearing in: 12. Diner Cuisine: Tradition and Taste from the Catskills, 14. The Importance of Oral Histories in Reframing History, 15. Oral Storytelling 101