The cooking gene : a journey through African American culinary history in the Old South / Michael W. Twitty.
By: Twitty, Michael W [author.].
Material type: TextPublisher: New York, NY : Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2017]Edition: First edition.Description: xvii, 443 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : color illustrations ; 24 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9780062379290; 0062379291; 9780062379276; 0062379275.Subject(s): African American cooking -- History | Cooking, American -- Southern style -- History | African Americans -- Food -- Southern States -- History | African Americans -- Genealogy | Genetic genealogy | COOKING / History | COOKING / Regional & Ethnic / American / Southern StatesAdditional physical formats: Online version:: Cooking gene.Item type | Current library | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book | Camden Downtown | Culinary Literacy | Adult | 641.5929 Twi (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 05000008987351 | |||
Book | South County | Nonfiction | Adult | 641.5929 Twi (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 05000009243119 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
2018 James Beard Foundation Book of the Year | 2018 James Beard Foundation Book Award Winner inWriting | Nominee for the 2018 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Nonfiction | #75 on The Root100 2018
A renowned culinary historian offers a fresh perspective on our most divisive cultural issue, race, in this illuminating memoir of Southern cuisine and food culture that traces his ancestry--both black and white--through food, from Africa to America and slavery to freedom.
Southern food is integral to the American culinary tradition, yet the question of who "owns" it is one of the most provocative touch points in our ongoing struggles over race. In this unique memoir, culinary historian Michael W. Twitty takes readers to the white-hot center of this fight, tracing the roots of his own family and the charged politics surrounding the origins of soul food, barbecue, and all Southern cuisine.
From the tobacco and rice farms of colonial times to plantation kitchens and backbreaking cotton fields, Twitty tells his family story through the foods that enabled his ancestors' survival across three centuries. He sifts through stories, recipes, genetic tests, and historical documents, and travels from Civil War battlefields in Virginia to synagogues in Alabama to Black-owned organic farms in Georgia.
As he takes us through his ancestral culinary history, Twitty suggests that healing may come from embracing the discomfort of the Southern past. Along the way, he reveals a truth that is more than skin deep--the power that food has to bring the kin of the enslaved and their former slaveholders to the table, where they can discover the real America together.
Illustrations by Stephen Crotts
Includes bibliographical references (pages [423]-437).
Preface: The Old South -- No More Whistling Walk for Me -- Hating My Soul -- Mise en Place -- Mishpocheh -- Missing Pieces -- No Nigger Blood -- "White Man in the Woodpile" -- 0.01 Percent -- Sweet Tooth -- Mothers of Slaves -- Alma Mater -- Chesapeake Gold -- The Queen -- Adam in the Garden -- Shake Dem 'Simmons Down -- All Creatures of Our G-d and King -- The Devil's Half Acre -- "The King's Cuisine" -- Crossroads -- The Old Country -- Sankofa -- Author's Note -- Selected Bibliography.
"A memoir of Southern cuisine and food culture that traces the paths of the author's ancestors (black and white) through the crucible of slavery to show its effects on our food today"--
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Family Tree (p. viii)
- Preface: The Old South (p. xi)
- Chapter 1 No More Whistling Walk for Me (p. 1)
- Chapter 2 Hating My Soul (p. 25)
- Chapter 3 Mise en Place (p. 43)
- Chapter 4 Mishpocheh (p. 65)
- Chapter 5 Missing Pieces (p. 81)
- Chapter 6 No Nigger Blood (p. 91)
- Chapter 7 "White Man in the Woodpile" (p. 99)
- Chapter 8 0.01 Percent (p. 119)
- Chapter 9 Sweet Tooth (p. 141)
- Chapter 10 Mothers of Slaves (p. 161)
- Chapter 11 Alma Mater (p. 199)
- Chapter 12 Chesapeake Gold (p. 219)
- Chapter 13 The Queen (p. 239)
- Chapter 14 Adam in the Garden (p. 265)
- Chapter 15 Shake Dem 'Simmons Down (p. 283)
- Chapter 16 All Creatures of Our G-d and Kind (p. 297)
- Chapter 17 The Devil's Half Acre (p. 321)
- Chapter 18 "The King's Cuisine" (p. 337)
- Chapter 19 Crossroads (p. 365)
- Chapter 20 The Old Country (p. 381)
- Chapter 21 Sankofa (p. 401)
- Author's Note (p. 417)
- Selected Bibliography (p. 423)
- Acknowledgments (p. 439)