Book

Tipton-Martin, Toni, author.

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

First edition.

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2015.

xv, 246 pages : color illustrations ; 29 cm

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.

Cookbooks -- United States -- History.

African American cooks -- Biography.

Cooks -- United States -- Biography.

African American cooking -- History.

African Americans -- Food -- History.

Two centuries of African American cookbooks

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

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.

2014033779

9780292745483 (cloth)

0292745486 (cloth)

890377551

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590681

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641.592 Tipton-M