"Black Southern writers are so underrepresented among Black writers, but everybody wants to come here and write about our biscuits," @CynthiaGreenlee says during the webinar for @beardfoundation, Who Gets to Talk About Southern Food, "I think the case is that editors are lazy."

Betsy Shepherd, @southfoodways reporter, says while fact-checking an article on a gumbo from Southwest Louisiana, a New York reporter had confused the special ingredient of the gumbo, guinea fowl, with guinea pigs, "How did this person get to be writing about Cajun food?"

Chris Smith, author of the book The Whole Okra, originally from the UK, says "I was looking at [Okra] in a broader lens of its international scope because I'm not American born... Even if it's not the focus of the book I'm going to speak about the African American Experience."

"If you feel discomfort, then you need to stop and think about it and consider whether you are the person," says @CynthiaGreenlee on Southern writing. "No one owns the history of the South, but some of us have a bigger stake in it and some of us don't have a seat at the table."

"I think it's important to give people opportunities from communities that are most knowledgable and proximate to those traditions," says Shepherd. "I don't think that people are necessarily just qualified because of where they live, it depends on their intention and knowledge."

"I am every step along the way ahead because of my white privilege," says Smith about his book journey, working with white-owned farms and organizations. "If there had been a Black person in a position of power, it would have changed the whole narrative."

"We need to make sure that media, art, and cultural organizations are doing everything they can to make sure that the audience they're serving is diverse," says Shepherd about media and cultural organizations. "We need to displace the whiteness from within these institutions."

"Of course writers of color outside of the Black and white binary deserve to be amplified," says @CynthiaGreenlee. "There are so many stories about the South, that we don't see because we're invested in that binary... and there are so many rural stories we don't see."

"You have to do the work, and you have to do the reading," says @CynthiaGreenlee on finding Black writers, like @WritersofColor and suggesting going to conferences for writers of color. "You have to put yourself out, and you develop a practice of looking for people."

This conversation was moderated by @soulfoodscholar. We want to thank the panelists and @beardfoundation for this conversation on equity and representation on Southern food. Let's keep the dialogue going