Black Food

July 1, 2021

With more than three dozen recipes and a dozen personal stories, Barrymore's Rebel Homemaker offers inspiration and ideas drawn from her hour-long daytime talk show, which premiered in fall 2020 and returns in fall 2021. The award-winning author ofThe Cake Bible, Beranbaum now offers The Cookie Bible, with treats from Caramel Surprise Snickerdoodles to Brownie Doughnuts (40,000 copy first printing). In Bittman & Conan's Bittman Bread: No-Knead Whole Grain Baking for Every Day, a culinary star shows us an easy new way to make luscious, healthy, let-your-teeth-tear-into-them baked goods (40,000 copy first printing). Together, from superstar chef Oliver (his estimated TV audience reach is 67 million viewers across 182 territories), offers 130 get-together recipes that cut down on kitchen time so that cooks can spend more with guests. The James Beard Award-winning Sen's Taste Makers profiles groundbreaking chefs who have revolutionized the American food scene, from Mexico-born Elena Zelayeta; to Norma Shirley, who champions Jamaican cuisine; to Marcella Hazan, the diva of Italian cooking. In Black Food, James Beard Award-winning chef Bryant Terry reveals the depth of Black culinary creativity and the breadth of the African diaspora by compiling recipes, essays, artwork, and poetry from more than 100 Black cultural figures.

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 16, 2021
Inspired by The Black Book, the 1974 compendium of Black American history and art coedited by Toni Morrison, this soulful, food-focused extravaganza edited by James Beard Award–winning chef Terry (Vegetable Kingdom) is built upon a similar scrapbook structure, calling upon scores of contributors to provide recipes along with a whirlwind of essays, poetry, photos, and paintings that celebrate Black culture through its food. The opening chapter, “Motherland,” presents African dishes such as Hawa Hasaan’s Somali lamb stew, while a section centered on the theme of migration and culinary fusion provides a West Africa meets Europe entrée, D.C. chef Dadisi Olutosin’s poulet yassa osso bucco. Food activist Dara Cooper’s stirring essay “Black Food as Resistance” ushers in a collection of liberation-themed dishes, including Adrian Lipscombe’s collards, which are seasoned with the wisdom of her great-grandmother: “The color and the hardiness... informs you how the greens were cared for.” Family ties also bind in a woman-centric chapter that includes jerk chicken ramen, created by Suzanne Barr in honor of her Jamaican mother. Elsewhere, a sensuous section tied to queer culture runs sweet with a beautiful essay from Savannah Shange—in which nectarines and sexuality merge—and a recipe for rum raisin plantains foster served up by Chopped champion Lazarus Lynch. This broad mosaic of Black society is as powerful as it is flavorful.

Starred review from October 1, 2021

In his latest book, award-winning chef Terry (Afro-Vegan; Vegetable Kingdom) brings together chefs, artists, activists, and scholars to reflect on culinary histories of the African diaspora. Terry's introduction explains how Black cuisines, like their creators, contain multitudes. The book's contents include essays on Black food history (Michael W. Twitty's text on food and migration) and recipes (Erika Council's vegan sweet potato coconut biscuits; Terry's grape-tarragon spritzer), plus other contributions from Black chefs (BJ Dennis, Mashama Bailey, Nina Compton). The book recalls Marcus Samuelsson's The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food, in that each of its book's sections invites readers to reflect on a specific ingredient like rice or a broader subject, like food as sustenance. Chapters on Black women's contributions to and Black queer influences on the diaspora are standouts. VERDICT Whether read straight through or browsed section by section, this meaningful book brings Black foodways into focus and will leave a lasting impact.--Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2021
James Beard- and NAACP Image Award-winning vegan chef, food activist, and author Terry (Vegetable Kingdom, 2020) presents to readers a wonderfully deep dive into the food, culture, history, and people of the African Diaspora, exploring its wide range across Africa to the American South, the Caribbean, and Afro-Asia. The book's generous variety of offerings include playlists to cook by, essays, musings, poetry, and stories about food, food culture, and food systems written by many authors from various backgrounds within the diaspora, such as the song ""Mother Earth,"" by Cindy Blackman Santana, and the essays ""The Poetics of Afro-Asian Cuisine,"" by Dr. Tao Leigh Goffe, ""Queer Intelligence: We Mobilize through Food,"" by Zoe Adjonyoh, and ""The Spiritual Ecology of Black Food,"" by Leah Penniman. The recipes included are just as diverse a bunch as their contributors: buttermilk biscuits, pili pili oil, Somali lamb stew, and doubles. Notes and personal stories within recipes--which are one to two pages, many including pictures--will make readers feel engaged and excited to cook. This is not only a book of recipes, but a book of history and experiences that readers will enjoy digging into as they bring the global community of the diaspora into their kitchen.

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