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bookwoman37's review against another edition
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was exactly what I expected it to be. The author has written a history and reviews of African American Cookbooks. Most of the books included are ones you will not find at your local book store. The author provides background on the authors and the book and reviews of the recipes. The book is arranged chronologically and the author also explores how African American cooking has evolved over the years. This is a book to be read and learn from. Enjoy
sjgrodsky's review against another edition
3.0
This book wasn’t what I expected. It’s a collection of reviews — I guess you could call these non-critical descriptions reviews — of hundreds of cookbooks either written by African Americans, or about AA cookery, though written by Whites.
I am white and Jewish and vegan. I don’t think I’m the intended audience. This was sort of like window shopping at a children’s clothing store. You can admire an item, but you’ll never buy it. Most recipes had meat — a lot of pork — and so were of no interest. I didn’t find many vegan recipes and did not try a single one.
A lot of the cookbooks have the word “soul” in either the title or subtitle. And what exactly is “soul”? I dunno. I think it’s a term that resists precise definition. You know it when you see it and it makes you feel comfortable and understood and at home.
One substantive take away: African Americans who become vegan have a particularly long journey from the diet of their childhood.
I am white and Jewish and vegan. I don’t think I’m the intended audience. This was sort of like window shopping at a children’s clothing store. You can admire an item, but you’ll never buy it. Most recipes had meat — a lot of pork — and so were of no interest. I didn’t find many vegan recipes and did not try a single one.
A lot of the cookbooks have the word “soul” in either the title or subtitle. And what exactly is “soul”? I dunno. I think it’s a term that resists precise definition. You know it when you see it and it makes you feel comfortable and understood and at home.
One substantive take away: African Americans who become vegan have a particularly long journey from the diet of their childhood.
readincolour's review against another edition
3.0
Would have liked more recipes. Instead it's more about who created the recipes & what cookbooks they published.
drkew's review against another edition
5.0
This is a gorgeous history of African American cookbooks.
annieb123's review against another edition
5.0
Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
The Jemima Code is a historical retrospective of African American culinary tradition throughout American history. Released in 2015 by the University of Texas Press, it's 264 pages and available in hardcover format.
This is a meticulously researched and indexed history of African American culinary culture as woven into the fabric of the United States in the form of published cookbooks written by black cooks. The author's respect and dignified treatment of the subject is clearly written into the text alongside the academically rigorous and well written prose.
The book is arranged in chronological order with facsimile pages, illustrations, and reprints. Although not a cookbook in any form, there are a number of full recipes included from older cookbooks (listed in bold print in the comprehensive index). The recipes are traditional, authentic, and inventive. Due to the nature of race history in the USA over the last centuries, there is a significant portion of the book which I found melancholy and I was deeply affected by the contained stories of generations of black cooks (usually women) working in an unbroken line down to the present day.
The book covers dozens and dozens of cookbooks. Each entry contains a picture of the original cookbook cover, often some historical publication information along with the concise and insightful commentary. There are some recipes included as facsimile pages from original texts, but they're not the main attraction. The commentary is unflinching and sometimes painful (for this white girl) to read.
There is little that is more culturally and emotionally relevant than our food traditions. This book provides an exhaustive and balanced look at a vital and unique (and large) part of American culinary history. This would be a valuable resource for related academic subjects such as gender studies, American history, black history, advertising, etc. Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
The Jemima Code is a historical retrospective of African American culinary tradition throughout American history. Released in 2015 by the University of Texas Press, it's 264 pages and available in hardcover format.
This is a meticulously researched and indexed history of African American culinary culture as woven into the fabric of the United States in the form of published cookbooks written by black cooks. The author's respect and dignified treatment of the subject is clearly written into the text alongside the academically rigorous and well written prose.
The book is arranged in chronological order with facsimile pages, illustrations, and reprints. Although not a cookbook in any form, there are a number of full recipes included from older cookbooks (listed in bold print in the comprehensive index). The recipes are traditional, authentic, and inventive. Due to the nature of race history in the USA over the last centuries, there is a significant portion of the book which I found melancholy and I was deeply affected by the contained stories of generations of black cooks (usually women) working in an unbroken line down to the present day.
The book covers dozens and dozens of cookbooks. Each entry contains a picture of the original cookbook cover, often some historical publication information along with the concise and insightful commentary. There are some recipes included as facsimile pages from original texts, but they're not the main attraction. The commentary is unflinching and sometimes painful (for this white girl) to read.
There is little that is more culturally and emotionally relevant than our food traditions. This book provides an exhaustive and balanced look at a vital and unique (and large) part of American culinary history. This would be a valuable resource for related academic subjects such as gender studies, American history, black history, advertising, etc. Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
hannas_heas47's review against another edition
4.0
I should have read the reviews on this one before accepting a Netgalley copy. While interesting history on cookbooks written by African American I was more interested in recipes written during this era. A ton of cookbooks are edited these days for low fat, low calorie...Sometimes you want the old fashioned way. While the author sure is passionate about what she speaks, and this is quite a cultural lesson they don’t teach in schools, I’m a bit disappointed that Aunt Jemima was fictitious. I’m disappointed that the brand is being silenced. Four stars of history here.
teriboop's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
James Beard Award winner Toni Tipton-Martin breaks down the Jemima Code by reviewing more than 150 cookbooks written by African American cooks and chefs. The Jemima Code is a term the author uses as a construct of racial bias against and stereotyping African American cooks. Much like a dress code, moral code, and the Black codes of the Jim Crow South, the Jemima Code defines a set of words and images to make specific characterizations about African Americans. Specifically, the Jemima Code characterizes African American cooks, chefs, and cookbook authors as insignificant and stereotypes them as good cooks by virtue of being Black, i.e., "mammyism." The construct of the Jemima Code diminishes the true talents of these women and men who worked to gain agency by having their recipes and cooking knowledge compiled and published. Tipton-Martin acknowledges and supports the contribution and hard work of these culinarians by reviewing their published works in detail.
After a very thorough discussion and explanation of the Jemima Code in the book's Introduction, Tipton-Martin details the 150+ cookbooks that she has amassed throughout eight sections beginning with books published in the nineteenth century and ending with books published between 1991-2011. Each section focuses on that time period's African American culinary trends, like domestic cooking (for those working as domestic cooks and servants) and Soul Food.
The details of each cookbook examined list its title, author(s), publishing information, and a short review by the author, and most have beautiful color pictures and many sample recipe pages alongside. This book is only available in hardbound and audible editions. I have the hardbound edition, and it is beautiful. This is a book that is both thought-provoking and educational. It will also make you very hungry, and you'll want to head to the kitchen to try your hand at some of the heritage recipes mentioned in the text.
After a very thorough discussion and explanation of the Jemima Code in the book's Introduction, Tipton-Martin details the 150+ cookbooks that she has amassed throughout eight sections beginning with books published in the nineteenth century and ending with books published between 1991-2011. Each section focuses on that time period's African American culinary trends, like domestic cooking (for those working as domestic cooks and servants) and Soul Food.
The details of each cookbook examined list its title, author(s), publishing information, and a short review by the author, and most have beautiful color pictures and many sample recipe pages alongside. This book is only available in hardbound and audible editions. I have the hardbound edition, and it is beautiful. This is a book that is both thought-provoking and educational. It will also make you very hungry, and you'll want to head to the kitchen to try your hand at some of the heritage recipes mentioned in the text.
kairosdreaming's review against another edition
4.0
*This book was received as a free reviewer's copy from NetGalley.
When I was little, my mom would take the bottle of Aunt Jemima syrup from the fridge (the one shaped like a human) and hide behind the fridge door and use the figure to talk to my brother to convince him to eat his pancakes. He believed she was real. At the time, I didn't realize just what that figure represented, my mother didn't either, it was just advertising and a staple bought from the store. But there's a whole history there, and one that represents both women and men who's contributions have gone unrecognized or works were stolen or brilliance overshadowed by stereotyping.
I first heard about this book on one of my favorite podcasts, Gravy, put on by the Southern Foodways Alliance. The episode was so interesting and informative that I knew I had to read the book. It seems to me that so often the history we learn in school is not the history we should be learning. That the dates of wars are not as important as the people in them.
Which brings us back to Jemima and the origination of the character. This book unlocks that code that was used to oppress and gives a history of African and Black American cooks and their contributions to cooking and cookbook making. Starting in the 1800's, the author explores by different time periods to show what publications were featuring these writers and cooks and how the general tone of the cookbooks changed over time. For each time period, she includes pictures (make sure you read this in a format that supports full-color pictures), recipes, and other information based on the cookbook collection she has amassed and provides a summary of that cookbook.
In general, the format of this book was well done. I liked the summaries of the different cookbooks and how they tied into the generation that was being described. The pictures helped provide nuance and some of the cover illustrations are really wonderful. My only complaint about the format is that the writing itself is in column-style, which I found more difficult to read than the conventional paragraph style.
This is definitely a book you don't want to read in one sitting. Like a cookbook, you want to meander, and explore the different time periods at leisure. Or maybe just flip through and look at the titles and pictures and go back to the reading later. However, you might enjoy. Each section starts out with some history of the time period as well, and I think those introductions helped provide useful context to the cookbooks that followed.
Interesting, intriguing, and it gave me a new appreciation for these cooks and the adversity they had when marketing and creating these works. This is history that should be examined and just as familiar as that famous bottle of syrup and pancake mix.
Review by M. Reynard 2020
When I was little, my mom would take the bottle of Aunt Jemima syrup from the fridge (the one shaped like a human) and hide behind the fridge door and use the figure to talk to my brother to convince him to eat his pancakes. He believed she was real. At the time, I didn't realize just what that figure represented, my mother didn't either, it was just advertising and a staple bought from the store. But there's a whole history there, and one that represents both women and men who's contributions have gone unrecognized or works were stolen or brilliance overshadowed by stereotyping.
I first heard about this book on one of my favorite podcasts, Gravy, put on by the Southern Foodways Alliance. The episode was so interesting and informative that I knew I had to read the book. It seems to me that so often the history we learn in school is not the history we should be learning. That the dates of wars are not as important as the people in them.
Which brings us back to Jemima and the origination of the character. This book unlocks that code that was used to oppress and gives a history of African and Black American cooks and their contributions to cooking and cookbook making. Starting in the 1800's, the author explores by different time periods to show what publications were featuring these writers and cooks and how the general tone of the cookbooks changed over time. For each time period, she includes pictures (make sure you read this in a format that supports full-color pictures), recipes, and other information based on the cookbook collection she has amassed and provides a summary of that cookbook.
In general, the format of this book was well done. I liked the summaries of the different cookbooks and how they tied into the generation that was being described. The pictures helped provide nuance and some of the cover illustrations are really wonderful. My only complaint about the format is that the writing itself is in column-style, which I found more difficult to read than the conventional paragraph style.
This is definitely a book you don't want to read in one sitting. Like a cookbook, you want to meander, and explore the different time periods at leisure. Or maybe just flip through and look at the titles and pictures and go back to the reading later. However, you might enjoy. Each section starts out with some history of the time period as well, and I think those introductions helped provide useful context to the cookbooks that followed.
Interesting, intriguing, and it gave me a new appreciation for these cooks and the adversity they had when marketing and creating these works. This is history that should be examined and just as familiar as that famous bottle of syrup and pancake mix.
Review by M. Reynard 2020
carolynf's review against another edition
3.0
This is neither a cookbook nor a history book. It is more like an annotated bibliography, with really long entries. African American cookbooks published from the 1820s to the 1990s are described in great detail - how the book is organized, the kinds of recipes that are included, and any special features like illustrations. They are addressed chronologically and grouped into eras, each with a few pages of historical background at the beginning. Very few recipes are provided and there isn't much information on the life of the author or their book's reception by the public.
I did not find this book to be an easy read, even though I am interested in history. Looking at each cookbook one by one felt too fragmented to me. The shifts in culinary technique from one cookbook to the next were too nuanced to hold my attention for very long. Plus when they described each cookbook I repeatedly found myself asking, "How is this different from cookbooks of the time that weren't written by an African American author?" That wasn't the case for all cookbooks - for some the connection to the black experience in America was very clear. But I did a lot of skimming past other cookbooks that were just about how to cook.
I did not find this book to be an easy read, even though I am interested in history. Looking at each cookbook one by one felt too fragmented to me. The shifts in culinary technique from one cookbook to the next were too nuanced to hold my attention for very long. Plus when they described each cookbook I repeatedly found myself asking, "How is this different from cookbooks of the time that weren't written by an African American author?" That wasn't the case for all cookbooks - for some the connection to the black experience in America was very clear. But I did a lot of skimming past other cookbooks that were just about how to cook.