About Adrian Miller
Adrian Miller is a food writer, James Beard Award winning-author, recovering attorney, former White House staffer, museum exhibit curator, faith leader, and certified barbecue judge who lives in Denver, Colorado. Adrian is featured in the Netflix hit High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America.
Bio
Adrian received an A.B in International Relations from Stanford University in 1991, and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1995. From 1999 to 2001, Adrian served as 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. Adrian went on to serve as a senior policy analyst for Colorado Governor Bill Ritter Jr. From 2004 to 2010, he served on the board for the Southern Foodways Alliance. In June 2019, Adrian lectured in the Masters of Gastronomy program at the Università di Scienze Gastronomiche (nicknamed the “Slow Food University”) in Pollenzo, Italy. He is currently the executive director of the Colorado Council of Churches and, as such, is the first African American, and the first layperson, to hold that position. Adrian is also the co-project director and lead curator of the “Proclaiming Colorado’s Black History” exhibit at the Museum of Boulder.
Awards
In 2018, Adrian was awarded the Ruth Fertel “Keeper of the Flame Award” by the Southern Foodways Alliance, in recognition of his work on African American foodways. In 2019, Adrian received the Judge Henry N. and Helen T. Graven award from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, for being “an outstanding layperson, whose life is nurtured and guided by a strong sense of Christian calling, and who is making a significant contribution to community, church, and our society.” In 2022, Adrian received an Honorary Doctorate from the Denver Institute for Urban Studies and Adult College. In August 2023, Adrian received a “Community Hope Award” from Denver’s Shorter Community African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 2024, Adrian received numerous accolades including: being inducted into the Blacks in Colorado Hall of Fame; receiving an Award for Excellence from the American Association for State and Local History and receiving the 2024 Autry for Public History from the Western Historical Association.
Bibliography
Adrian’s 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. His 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. Adrian’s 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.
Community
Adrian serves on the boards of the following organizations: Artists Against Racism, Campbell Chapel A.M.E. Church (Steward Board), Colorado Humanities, Colorado Public Radio, Colorado Wine Industry Development Board, Iliff School of Theology, and Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.