Miss Edna Lewis, the undisputed grand dame of Southern cuisine, died on February 13 at the age of 89. Her passing's been mourned by many, and her legacy lauded, but the obituaries calling her “the Julia Child of the South” don't really do her justice, in my opinion. Looking back, Lewis's style of cooking seems truly visionary, relying on farm fresh produce and herbs, prepared according to the season, as well as a fearless, and judicious, use of fat.

Lewis' first cookbook, The Edna Lewis Cookbook, was published in 1972, right around the time that Alice Waters founded Chez Panisse. The menus are arranged seasonally; a common practice nowadays, but a pretty radical approach for its time. The book is, sadly, out of print, and, not surprisingly, much sought after; a decent hardcover edition can easily cost $150 or more. I guess we'd better handle Matt's 1989 paperback edition with care!

An interview Lewis gave back in 1997 gives a taste of her forward-thinking, back-to-the-land sensibility. “The main thing about Southern cooking was that the food was homegrown, fresh and not hybridized…you picked the food from the garden each day, and nothing was store-bought. You had your own meat or you bought it from a neighbor. We made our own butter and didn’t give our cows pills to make them give more milk. The food had a better taste when it wasn’t injected with something, like everything is today.”

In the interview, Lewis defends the Southern diet as healthy, citing as proof the fact that until farmers in Freetown, where she grew up, started spraying their fields with chemicals, most people in Freetown lived to be 100 and older eating pork, butter, lard, sugar and other Southern favorites. Lewis herself rarely got sick, and adhered to a regimen of eating fresh Southern cuisine, a daily dose of vitamin C, bottled water and organic milk. She avoided chemically treated meats and vegetables.

I'm sorry she's gone, but I'm so glad she lived long enough to see her brand of homegrown, home-style cooking elevated to the status it deserves. Marge Perry wrote a nice tribute to Lewis in yesterday's Newsday, honoring Lewis' memory with 3 Simple Southern Dishes that celebrate Lewis' culinary style. They sound so tempting, I'm going to make them all, and soon.