voices in food.
Photographer and supper-club chef Elainea Emmott sends a letter back through time to a man enslaved by Thomas Jefferson. No picture exists of James Hemings, and he left behind only a few elegantly written notes and inventories – but as a pioneering chef, he created an important culinary legacy
Dear James
A cook’s journey is a love affair starting with a knife, a spoon, a pot – and a plate full of ambition. And no one has a more poignant story to tell about that than you. You were born into slavery in the most famous family in slave history, the Hemings. At the age of nine, you and your other siblings, including your younger sister Sally, became the property of Thomas Jefferson, later to become the third US President. It’s generally believed that your sister Sally went on to become the mother of several of Thomas Jefferson’s children.
In 1784, when you were 19, President George Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson as minister to France and he crossed the sea, taking you with him. In Jefferson’s house in Paris, which doubled as the US Embassy, your job was to run the kitchens, oversee the cooks and make the inventories under an ever-watchful gaze. You weren’t free but your status was elevated in comparison to those working back in the fields, yet you must have been well aware of the fragility of your position.
It must have been tough travelling to Paris, then learning the culinary arts in a foreign language, first as a chef under the French caterer Monsieur Combeaux and later at Château Chantilly. Such kitchens were intimidating, hierarchical places. Behind the doors you would have experienced rushes of hot activity, shouts of abuse and constant grind, grafting to survive. Did you learn quickly? Were you forced to do so after daily humiliation when you made the smallest mistake or hesitation?
Perhaps food became your freedom. You were a fast learner and were soon in charge, cooking at the equivalent level of a three-Michelin-star restaurant of today, having mastered the French language and cuisine, and more than earning your stripes. I wonder... Is this where you found meaning, James?
Your cooking style was true fusion, combining classical French cuisine with your Southern heritage. You impressed your master’s dinner guests: statesmen, men of letters, scientists and aristocrats. You were soon supervising the kitchen and delighting diners with dishes such as whipped cream, french fries, ice creams and meringues, all favourites of the French bourgeoisie and all impacting upon American cuisine today. And of co
