Cookbook Club

Q&A on The Grey’s New Book

By: The Local Palate

Reading Between the Lines

Some eight years ago, a Black chef from Queens and a white entrepreneur from Staten Island took a leap of faith together. Johno Morisano and Mashama Bailey uprooted their lives and took on a venture far outside their comfort zones: opening a restaurant in Savannah, Georgia. In the near-decade since, the Grey and newcomer the Grey Market have racked up accolades and launched Savannah into the national conversation. Through it all, Morisano and Bailey forged a bond that goes well beyond a business partnership, strengthened in tragedy and tough conversations when the differences that compelled them to join forces also made for bumps in the road.

Penguin Random House, 2021

Black, White, and The Grey’s unique format—a balance of two intertwined, and at times disparate, perspectives—is perfectly emblematic of its authors. As is its winding path to publication: Morisano began a first iteration in 2017, it was scheduled for publication in 2019. But the pair realized the conversation wasn’t over, specifically for Bailey, who joined the writing process by adding her own perspective over Morisano’s framework—a detail, they realized, relegated her voice to the margins of his narrative. Steeled with a desire to do better, they hunkered down in a Parisian flat for the first six weeks of 2020 and emerged with a refined version that tackles discourse on race, gender, and class in a way that’s both authentically uncomfortable and deeply compelling.

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Date Published: 02.08.21
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