Diane M. Spivey is a dedicated culinary historian who has devoted more than forty years to the study and recording of African American food traditions and cooking.  She is the author of the much-heralded The Peppers, Cracklings, and Knots of Wool Cookbook: The Global Migration of African Cuisine, and At the Table of Power: Food and Cuisine in the African American Struggle for Freedom, Justice, and Equality. She has also written “Latin American and Caribbean Food and Cuisine” for The Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History at Encyclopedia.com, and South Florida Gourmet, The Black Book Review, Newsday, and Scribner’s Encyclopedia of World Food and Culture.  Born and reared in Chicago, she and family now reside in Palmetto Bay, Florida.