Zephyr Wright (1915–1988) was a Black woman who cooked for Lyndon B. Johnson and family from 1942 (when LBJ was serving in the House of Representatives) through the end of his presidency in 1969. Her relationship with Johnson influenced his policies on race and civil rights.
The Taste of Equality
According to Kate Andersen Brower in her book The Residence (2015), President Johnson often leaned on the experiences of Zephyr Wright and other Black members of his staff to help inform his political decisions. President Johnson told a story about how Wright influenced his civil rights efforts: Wright would accompany the Johnsons back and forth on their trips from Texas to Washington, D.C., so she could cook for them in both places. But this was the Jim Crow South. Along the ride, Wright and other Black staffers were often not allowed to stay in hotels or enter restaurants, even when the Johnsons insisted. Wright eventually put her foot down and insisted on staying in D.C. rather than going on these segregated trips. When President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Wright stood by his side. After signing, Johnson handed Wright the pen and said, “You deserve this more than anyone else.”
But it was Wright’s cooking, and her mastery of Southern cooking in particular, that made her somewhat of a celebrity in LBJ’s dinner-party circle. Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House at the time, called Wright “the best Southern cook this side of heaven.” Wright was known for her chili, popovers, cobblers, and fried chicken.
In exploring Wright’s legacy, I delved into documents from the LBJ Library and came across Wright’s recipe for shrimp curry (curries became well-loved in the South during the 18th century, thanks to the influence of English colonists, merchants, and slave traders, many of whom had colonial ties or experience in South Asia and Southeast Asia). I made it and was struck by how such a simple recipe could be so satisfying.
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Weeknight cooking inspiration, curated and written by longtime ATK author and editor (and avid home cook) Jack Bishop.
Her recipe calls for steaming a pound of shrimp before stirring them into a sauce made with curry powder, ginger, onion, butter, chicken bouillon, a little sugar for balance, milk, and lemon juice. The short ingredient list results in a creamy dish with rich curry flavor.
Inspired by Wright’s personal story and this dish, I offer my take on her shrimp curry. For my version, I doubled the shrimp to 2 pounds to feed four. Aiming for the ease of a weeknight meal, I decided to cook the shrimp directly in the curry sauce rather than steam them separately.
I stuck to Wright’s choice of a chicken bouillon cube to create a savory backbone for the curry sauce. We don’t often call for bouillon cubes (and you can use chicken broth if you prefer), but many savvy cooks turn to them for the well-rounded seasoning they provide, and my colleagues and I loved the flavor they added here. I bumped up the lemon juice from Wright’s recipe for a little extra tang. And I didn’t change much else.
Zephyr Wright–Inspired Shrimp Curry
There's power in food—and in the people who create it.
Get the RecipeThe resulting dish is much more than the sum of its parts: simultaneously light and rich, flavorful and comforting, and perhaps more deeply satisfying because of the story of the woman behind it.
