Michael Twitty's Barbecue Pork Is a Link to His Father's Past Michael Twitty is a writer, culinary historian and historical interpreter with a deep expertise in African-American foodways. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Twitty is Jewish and gay, and has explored how the diverse elements of his identity intertwine in the James Beard Award-winning book The Cooking Gene. He's the second in a special Father's Day series of men talking about a dish ...