FREDA DEKNIGHT: THE ART & SOUL OF SOUTHERN COOKING
Spending the week preparing for my talk on Southern culinary traditions at the Austin Museum of Art this week led me to a comparison of iconic dishes in cookbooks written by black and white authors. The difference? Not much. Not that I was surprised. For years...
AUNT PRISCILLA: NEWSPAPER CULINARY COLUMNIST?
What do you do to become a better cook? Consult an expert, of course. That is exactly what readers did in 1930’s Maryland when The Baltimore Sun published Aunt Priscilla’s Recipes, a regular recipe column of conversational culinary advice. The writings followed a...
MRS. W.T. HAYES: COURAGEOUS COOK OR BENEFACTOR?
Who is Mrs. W.T. Hayes and why does she matter? The question has baffled me since my friend and Southern sage John Egerton generously gave me her mysterious little recipe book back in the late 1980’s. Now, finally, an answer. I was beginning my journey as a curious...
LOS ANGELES NEGRO CULINARY ARTS CLUB: CLASSY COOKING
I had already imagined the delicacies and grace that would be rendered by Eliza’s Cook Book: Favorite Recipes Compiled by Negro Culinary Art Club of Los Angeles long before I ever bid my way to a rare and highly-coveted copy. I can tell you this sophisticated gem of...
BERTHA TURNER & TIGER WOODS: EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
With Tiger Woods back in the news this week, my thoughts immediately turned to Fuzzy Zoeller’s yakity yak urging Woods not to “order fried chicken or collard greens...or whatever the hell they serve” at the 1997 Masters golf tournament champions dinner. Zoeller might...
CHANNELING MARY AND GINGERBREAD WITH LOCAL SORGHUM
I returned home from Austin’s newest farmer’s market on Saturday feeling a lot like my ancestors in slavery, but without the mad kitchen skills. The day began as a predictable, seasonal treasure hunt for fresh and local produce, cage-free eggs, maybe some grass-fed...
LEAH, JESSICA & AUNT FRANCES: A SALUTE TO EXCELLENCE
I was admiring the passionate portraits and poetry of Howard Weeden when the James Beard Foundation announced that two icons of African American culinary arts and foodways studies would be saluted at the Foundation’s prestigious annual Foundation Awards ceremony in...
BLUE GRASS COOKS: IN RECIPES, PICTURES, AND POETRY
As a journalist at a bloggers workshop, I was feeling a little bothered while attending South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW) this week, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, until I realized that the women who inspire me also lived as if there were four of them. They...
FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN AUTHORS: CELEBRITY CHEFS PART II
Kick me for not straight out calling the women in my last post top chef-styled celebrities, and for not telling you that you can and should own copies of their work -- the first black cookbooks published in this country. It’s just that I lost my webmaster and I was...
ABBY FISHER & MALINDA RUSSELL: ACCOMPLISHED IN BUSINESS
I was hanging out in East Austin as Black History Month drew to a close when I happened upon a series of banners hanging around historic venues. The proud displays featured the names and pictures of local African Americans who had accomplished great things in various...
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