Adrian Miller

I'm an award-winning author, recovering attorney, former White House staffer, former politico, museum exhibit curator, Christian faith leader, soul food expert, presidential cuisine expert, professional speaker (topics include belonging, culture, and leadership), and certified barbecue judge who lives in Denver, Colorado.

I graduated from Stanford University, and the Georgetown University Law Center. I was a special assistant to President Bill Clinton with his Initiative for One America – the first free-standing office in the White House to address issues of racial, religious and ethnic reconciliation. I then went on to serve as a senior policy analyst for Colorado Governor Bill Ritter Jr. I am currently the executive director of the Colorado Council of Churches, a Christian social justice organization, and, as such, I'm the first African American, and the first layperson, to hold that position. One of my great honors is organizing the annual Easter Sunrise Service at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado.

I've written several books focusing on African American, American, and presidential cuisine, food and drink. My first book, "Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time," won the James Beard Foundation Award for Scholarship and Reference in 2014. My second book, "The President’s Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, From the Washingtons to the Obamas," was published on President’s Day 2017. It was a finalist for a 2018 NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Literary Work – Non-Fiction,” and the 2018 Colorado Book Award for History. My third book, "Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue," won the 2022 James Beard Award for Reference, History, and Scholarship and the 2022 Colorado Book Award for History. It was a finalist for the 2022 International Association of Culinary Professionals Literary & Historical Writing Award. My next book is on Asian heritage presidential chefs.

I love to travel. When in college, I studied in Tours, France and Oxford, England. I visited much of Western Europe during that time. I've also traveled to Argentina, Canada, India, Mexico., and the Virgin Islands. I've been lucky enough to travel to Bahrain, Egypt, Ireland, Kuwait, Norway, Oman and the United Arab Emirates to give presentations based on the books that I've written.

You may have seen me on the Netflix hit "High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America."

That's why, I'm "The Soul Food Scholar" who's dropping knowledge like hot biscuits!