American Taste

James Milton Villas was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on February 10, 1938. He received a bachelor's degree, a master's degree, and a doctorate in Romance languages and comparative literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He taught French Romanticism at the University of Missouri and Rutgers University before switching careers.

After several of his freelance articles were accepted by food and travel magazines, he was hired as an assistant editor at Esquire. He was the food and wine editor of Town & Country magazine from 1972 until 1999. He wrote 12 cookbooks including My Mother's Southern Kitchen: Recipes and Reminiscences, Pig: King of the Southern Table, and Southern Fried: More Than 150 Recipes for Crab Cakes, Fried Chicken, Hush Puppies, and More. He won four James Beard Awards for his prolific and tart commentary in books and magazines. He also wrote a memoir entitled Between Bites: Memoirs of a Hungry Hedonist and several novels including Dancing in the Lowcountry, Hungry for Happiness, and Love Dog. He died on August 17, 2018 at the age of 80.

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