A comprehensive education on American culinary traditions has to include African American foodways. Needless to say, there is no one culture that defines American cuisine. From the crops grown by Indigenous peoples to the ingredients brought to the U.S. by immigrants seeking a taste of home, the library of American recipes is contained in a melting pot. But, today, I’m focusing on three excellent books about African American food and foodways, including my current read, which I’ve been meaning to get to ever since watching its Netflix series adaptation. More than cookbooks, High on the Hog by Jessica B. Harris, The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis, and Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts by Crystal Wilkinson tell the stories of the foods, traditions, and recipes that arrived with enslaved Africans, sustained the generations that followed, and became an indelible part of American cuisine.
High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey From Africa to America by Jessica B. Harris
If you love deeply insightful and heartfelt food documentaries, I hope you watched the Netflix adaptation based on Harris’s High on the Hog. It’s impossible not to get emotional learning about the birth of African American cuisine because that story is rooted in the brutal history of slavery. Harris, who wrote the excellent memoir My Soul Looks Back, takes us from the markets of coastal Africa and the West Indies to the plantations of the American South and into the kitchens and restaurants of African Americans for an expansive, beautifully-written look at our culinary history. And you have to learn the history before you get to the recipes concluding the book.
The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis
You should know the culinary legend Edna Lewis, and you can start by reading this New York Times profile on the chef and cookbook author (gifted link) and her book, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The Taste of Country Cooking marries Lewis’s memories of growing up in rural Virginia with the recipes she continued to savor long after leaving Freetown. Lewis’s reminiscences are as delicious as her yeast rolls, brandied peaches, and pan-braised spareribs. The recipes are helpfully sorted into seasons with menus such as, “An Early Summer Breakfast” and “Sunday Revival Dinner.”
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes From Five Generations of Black Country Cooks by Crystal Wilkinson
Crystal Wilkinson collects the recipes of her Appalachian ancestors in this gorgeous book sharing the “complexity of Black mountain culture and food,” and brimming with family photos. You’ll find recipes for Southern favorites like chicken and dumplings alongside a healthy twist on soup beans. You’ll walk in the woods, foraging for wild greens with 12-year-old Wilkinson, armed with a notebook, and her grandmother. You’ll never again be at a loss for what to do with a bounty of blackberries (other than gobble them up by the fistful). Wilkinson brings much-needed attention to the existence of Black Appalachian foodways.
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