Dr. Jessica B. Harris On Starting Her Culinary Writing Career At ESSENCE And Having Her Work Adapted For Netflix’s ‘High On The Hog’ Essence 3 hrs ago Everything has an origin story. When food historian and James Beard Lifetime Achievement winner Dr. Jessica B. Harris first started writing about culinary delights from around the world, she was doing so for ESSENCE. The acclaimed writer and author was the book review editor for this very publication in the 1970s before becoming the travel editor and journeying through the African diaspora, sampling a plethora of meals. "That was where I began to taste these foods, and to make these connections. ESSENCE was part of the beginning of it," Dr. Harris tells ESSENCE. "I wrote a column called "The Go Gourmet," and it aired every other month. I can't even think of what they were all about, but that was some of my very first writing about food, and travel, and culture."