CHLOE AND MAUM MARY: MAKING AMERICAN MASTERPIECES
Last week, Hollywood helped me imagine a place in the spotlight for the women of The Jemima Code. A world-renowned actor and a producer appeared on “Good Morning America” to discuss their documentary film. The project tells the story of unsung heroes, tracing obscure...
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MAMMY ROSE: AT THE TABLE WHERE DESSERTS SET
A month into my study of black women cooking in America’s kitchens and already I can see numerous professional characteristics displayed by slave women. Plantation cooks worked under pressure and still devoted attention to detail. Fashioned a creative style under...
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MICHELLE OBAMA: HANDLING HER BUSINESS AND OURS
Yesterday, the First Lady announced an ambitious initiative designed to “eliminate childhood obesity in a generation.” Her nationwide campaign, entitled “Let’s Move,” was kicked off with a presidential memorandum that established a plan to evaluate and coordinate...
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NUBIAN QUEEN LOLA: A FAITHFUL SERVANT
Another week, another feature story about Nubian Queen LoLa. What is it about this woman that keeps the media buzzing? Her humanitarian spirit as a newly-ordained minister of the Gospel? The sound of her voice emanating from the kitchen as she sings along with the...
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A PIE IS A WARM HUG WRAPPED IN A CRUST
Our pie-baking excursion had barely begun, and already I was getting a little teary-eyed subconsciously drifting between wondering what life would be like for these kids when they returned to their homes, and teaching them a few basic cooking skills. “Wash your hands...
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PAULINE BROWN: PEACE THROUGH PIE
Pauline Brown wasn’t the kind of woman to let segregation bring her down. “I have my share of memories, some of them exciting, some of them scary, but I still love every moment and I will fight for Clarksville until the day I die. This is my area; our home.” In a...
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MAMMY, MAUM CHLOE, AND JEMIMA GET A MAKEOVER
Scholars tell us that Aunt Jemima was the professional persona for household slave women generically identified in literature and history as the plantation Mammy. They say that this obsession with mythical mammies obscured the work of real southern domestic servants,...
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RAISING A CHICKEN LEG TO A NEW IMAGE
So we went to a cocktail party last night to celebrate the coming of the New Year and the inevitable question came up. “What do you do?” I explain that I have just started blogging about the history of African American cooks, and before I can finish my sentence, a...
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KIDS IN THE KITCHEN: A HOLIDAY GIFT
This was supposed to be the blog that explained the origins of The Jemima Code, but when my 17-year-old son Christian asks you to do something, it’s kind of hard not to agree. Last night, he and five of his friends took possesion of my kitchen, and prepared a...
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PRINCESS TIANA: FAIRY TALES AND GUMBO
I am a Disney girl and everyone knows it. So when the studio announced its intention to release a film with an African American princess, who also happens to be an aspiring chef, I couldn’t have been more excited. I raced to the theater for opening weekend, though I...
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