NATCHEZ &8212; Noted culinary historian and cookbook author Jessica B. Harris will open the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Natchez Convention Center with the keynote address, &8220;Coming Together at the Table: Foodways of the American South.&8221;

The keynote address will consider three cultures that formed the matrix of Southern foods &8212; Native American, African and European, Harris said.

&8220;Natchez is perfectly placed for this,&8221; Harris said. &8220;There is a rich history there of how it has all come together.&8221;

Her impressive credentials allow her many titles &8212; food consultant, journalist, college professor, television personality and international presenter, to name a few.

She is an expert not only in foods and cooking but also in theater, beauty and travel.

However, Eugenie Cates of Natchez has another title for Harris &8212; good friend.

Cates, former owner of New Orleans wine bar and bistro Flagons, met Harris at a food conference in San Francisco sponsored by the American Institute of Wine and Food.

Their conversations led to more conversations and, finally, to an invitation by Cates for Harris to visit New Orleans.

&8220;She&8217;s a world traveler, but at that time she had not been to New Orleans very much. I invited her to come and be my guest,&8221; Cates said.

The friendship blossomed from there, as Harris visited New Orleans again, eventually buying a house there, and then visited Cates in Natchez.

&8220;She got to meet other Natchez friends, and she has hosted us in her cottage in New Orleans,&8221; Cates said. &8220;She&8217;s become a friend of Natchez.&8221;

Cates recalled a Natchez visit when Harris shopped for antiques on Franklin Street and selected a large sideboard for her New Orleans cottage.

&8220;At that time, I was teaching a class at Alcorn at the business school. She came with me and talked to the class about the publishing industry and writing books. The class was thrilled,&8221; Cates said.

Cates, also a food historian and enthusiast, said Harris &8220;calls herself a food anthropologist. She looks at the world through how people eat, cook and connect. She is a great speaker who speaks exactly the way she writes.&8221;

Carolyn Vance Smith, founder and co-chairman of the Celebration, said Harris is the right person to set the stage for the event, which follows the theme &8220;Biscuits, Gumbo, Sweet Tea and Bourbon Balls: Southern Food and Drink in History, Literature and Film.&8221;

&8220;We are blessed that one of the country&8217;s most highly regarded food historians, a Southerner who says she lives in New York when she can&8217;t live in New Orleans, will be the keynote speaker at this year&8217;s Celebration.

&8220;Dr. Harris is the author of numerous important books about food, is a highly regarded college professor, a sought-after speaker for television shows and conferences, and on top of that, is a popular person with

worlds of friends.

&8220;She will set the stage for four days of stimulating, fascinating programs about what we all love: good Southern food.&8221;

In &8220;Iron Pots and Wooden Spoons: Africa&8217;s Gifts to New World Cooking,&8221; one of Harris&8217; nine cookbooks, she says, &8220;As African cooks transformed the eating habits of planters in the American South, they also went to work in the Great Houses of the Caribbean, and consciously or unconsciously, the Africanization of the New World palate took place.&8221;

The cookbook includes several gumbo recipes. Harris she says okra &8220;is one of Africa&8217;s gifts to the New World.&8221;

She praises her &8220;Grandma Harris&8221; for her breakfast foods, especially biscuits. &8220;The biscuits were always served with Alaga syrup &8230; The syrup was for &8216;sopping&8217; &8212; the only acceptable way to eat biscuits in my family.&8221;