Reviews

In Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, former Kentucky poet laureate Crystal Wilkinson reflects on family, Black Appalachia, and rural life through food, interweaving storytelling with family recipes and gorgeous photographs of her family and the food they love.

We cook. We share our food. We heal.
I know that women in my family have been kitchen ghosts for centuries. Peeping over the shoulders of our daughters and granddaughters and sons and grandsons.
Saying:
Just a little bit more.
Turn your fire down.
Not too much salt.
Please have some we have plenty.
And I imagine myself many years from now, standing in my great-grandchildren's kitchens, nodding my head as they cook, whispering in their ears, "That's right. Keep it up. We will always have plenty."

This book is just so lovely. It is a celebration of so much: of family, of heritage, of Black women, of the abundance of rural life, of food as soul-feeding and connection-sustaining. Wilkinson folds the common ingredients of food and cooking into stories about the experiences of generations of women in her family, including her own: grieving her grandmother and mother, raising her children as a single mother, and missing her family during the isolation of a global pandemic. Each element of this book-- the writing, the photos, the stories, the recipes-- is truly beautiful. This book was a joy to read.

Part memoir, part cookbook, Praisesong transcends any one label to make for a sumptuous reading experience that is worthy of savoring. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes memoirs, food books, cooking, personal history, Appalachia, or beautiful storytelling.