How African American Women Shaped American Cuisine

Award-winning food and nutrition journalist Toni Tipton-Martin discusses the overlooked contributions that African American women have made to American cuisine. Her book, The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks contains recipes collected from more than 150 cookbooks that range from a rare 1827 house servant’s manual to modern classics by authors such as Edna Lewis and Vertamae Grosvenor.

The Farmer Jones Cook Book Issued by Fort Scott Sorghum Syrup Company Kansas, 1914 26 pgs.

(From The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks (University of Texas Press, 2015), courtesy of Toni Tipton-Martin. For more information visit www.utexaspress.com")

A Domestic Cook Book: Containing a Careful Selection of Useful Receipts for the Kitchen,” by Malinda Russell, published by the author, printed by T.O. Ward, Paw Paw, Michigan, 1866, facsimile edition

(From The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks (University of Texas Press, 2015), courtesy of Toni Tipton-Martin. For more information visit www.utexaspress.com)

In Pursuit of Flavor Edna Lewis New York: Knopf, 1988 323 pages

(From The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks (University of Texas Press, 2015), courtesy of Toni Tipton-Martin. For more information visit www.utexaspress.com)