Last week, Seattle's Edouardo Jordan, owner and chef of Salare in Ravenna, appeared on the front page of the New York Times Food section. His food was featured for its distinct mix of influences, including Jordan's exploration of his African and African-American roots.

"Across the country, a new generation of black chefs and cookbook authors has been reinventing, reinterpreting and reinvigorating what’s thought of as African-American food," wrote the Times's Jeff Gordinier. "Their work is part of the culinary development and self-discovery that has been going on for decades — centuries, really."

Gordinier links Jordan's work to that of other American chefs including Joseph Johnson of the Cecil in Harlem, Mashama Bailey of the Grey in Savannah, Georgia, Tonya Holland of Oakland's Brown Sugar Kitchen.

"When I began the process of opening Salare, a little bird kept singing in my head, ‘Embrace your heritage,’” Jordan told the Times.

Jordan's words will feel familiar to anyone who read the Fall/Winter issue our food and drink magazine, The Sauce, which came out last October. I interviewed him, along with four of Seattle's black culinary leaders, about his life and the vision behind his food.

"With Salare, I'm being respectful of my heritage, going deep into slavery when our folks were cooking in the fields and given end pieces of pork and offal," Jordan told me. "They figured out how to make those things taste good and feed the family. I still think about that kind of heritage and history now. I also want to open people's eyes."