The Jemima code : two centuries of African American cookbooks Toni Tipton-Martin ; forewords by John Egerton and Barbara Haber

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tipton-Martin, Toni, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cooking--United States--History.

Cooking.

African American cooks--Biography.

African American cooks.

Cooks--United States--Biography.

Cooks.

African American cooking--History.

African American cooking.

African Americans--Food--History.

African Americans.

Physical Description:

xv, 246 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 29 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2015.

Summary:

Women of African descent have contributed to America's food culture for centuries, but their rich and varied involvement is still overshadowed by the demeaning stereotype of an illiterate "Aunt Jemima" who cooked mostly by natural instinct. Tipton-Martin looks at black cookbooks that range from a rare 1827 house servant's manual, the first book published by an African American in the trade, to modern classics. These cookbooks offer firsthand evidence that African Americans cooked creative masterpieces from meager provisions, educated young chefs, operated food businesses, and nourished the African American community through the long struggle for human rights.

Contents:

Nineteenth-century cookbooks : breaking a stereotype

1900-1925, surviving mammyism : cooking lessons for work and home

1926-1950, the servant problem : dual messages

1951-1960, lifting as we climb : tea cakes, finger sandwiches, community service, and civil rights

1961-1970, soul food : mama's cooking leaves home for the city

1971-1980, simple pleasures : a soul food revival

1981-1990, mammy's makeover : the ever-useful life

1991-2011, sweet to the soul : the hope of Jemima.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-233) and index.

Local Notes:

HSP Historic Culinary Arts Collection.

ISBN:

9780292745483

0292745486

OCLC:

890377551