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Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks
A lyrical culinary journey that explores the hidden legacy of Black Appalachians, through powerful storytelling alongside nearly forty comforting recipes, from the former poet laureate of Kentucky.
People are always surprised that Black people reside in the hills of Appalachia. Those not surprised that we were there, are surprised that we stayed.
Years ago, when O. Henry Prize-winning writer Crystal Wilkinson was baking a jam cake, she felt her late grandmother’s presence. She soon realized that she was not the only cook in her kitchen; there were her ancestors, too, stirring, measuring, and braising alongside her. These are her kitchen ghosts, five generations of Black women who settled in Appalachia and made a life, a legacy, and a cuisine.
An expert cook, Wilkinson shares nearly forty family recipes rooted deep in the past, full of flavor—delicious favorites including Corn Pudding, Chicken and Dumplings, Granny Christine’s Jam Cake, and Praisesong Biscuits , brought to vivid life through stunning photography. Together, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts honors the mothers who came before, the land that provided for generations of her family, and the untold heritage of Black Appalachia.
As the keeper of her family’s stories and treasured dishes, Wilkinson shares her inheritance in Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts. She found their stories in her apron pockets, floating inside the steam of hot mustard greens and tucked into the sweet scent of clove and cinnamon in her kitchen. Part memoir, part cookbook, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts weaves those stories together with recipes, family photos, and a lyrical imagination to present a culinary portrait of a family that has lived and worked the earth of the mountains for over a century.
People are always surprised that Black people reside in the hills of Appalachia. Those not surprised that we were there, are surprised that we stayed.
Years ago, when O. Henry Prize-winning writer Crystal Wilkinson was baking a jam cake, she felt her late grandmother’s presence. She soon realized that she was not the only cook in her kitchen; there were her ancestors, too, stirring, measuring, and braising alongside her. These are her kitchen ghosts, five generations of Black women who settled in Appalachia and made a life, a legacy, and a cuisine.
An expert cook, Wilkinson shares nearly forty family recipes rooted deep in the past, full of flavor—delicious favorites including Corn Pudding, Chicken and Dumplings, Granny Christine’s Jam Cake, and Praisesong Biscuits , brought to vivid life through stunning photography. Together, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts honors the mothers who came before, the land that provided for generations of her family, and the untold heritage of Black Appalachia.
As the keeper of her family’s stories and treasured dishes, Wilkinson shares her inheritance in Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts. She found their stories in her apron pockets, floating inside the steam of hot mustard greens and tucked into the sweet scent of clove and cinnamon in her kitchen. Part memoir, part cookbook, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts weaves those stories together with recipes, family photos, and a lyrical imagination to present a culinary portrait of a family that has lived and worked the earth of the mountains for over a century.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 23, 2024
About the author
Crystal Wilkinson
16 books356 followersCrystal Wilkinson, a recent fellowship recipient of the Academy of American Poets, is the award-winning author of Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, a culinary memoir, Perfect Black, a collection of poems, and three works of fiction—The Birds of Opulence , Water Street and Blackberries, Blackberries. She is the recipient of an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Poetry, an O. Henry Prize, a USA Artists Fellowship, and an Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence. She has received recognition from the Yaddo Foundation, Hedgebrook, The Vermont Studio Center for the Arts, The Hermitage Foundation and others. Her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including most recently in The Atlantic, The Kenyon Review, STORY, Agni Literary Journal, Emergence, Oxford American and Southern Cultures. She was Poet Laureate of Kentucky from 2021 to 2023. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Kentucky where she is a Bush-Holbrook Endowed Professor.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
October 5, 2023
The title pretty much says it all: Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks. Cookbook author and former Kentucky poet laureate Crystal Wilkinson has compiled recipes and stories from her ancestors, who lived in Indian Creek in Eastern Kentucky. Wilkinson’s family goes back in that area to 1808, when the slave-owning white Wilkinsons brought an enslaved 13-year-old girl with them from Virginia. That girl, Aggy, grew up to marry white Tarlton Wilkinson and became a freedwoman and bore him 10 children. She is also — among others — the inspiration for this cookbook.
Wilkinson weaves in some interesting family history, but — as with all cookbooks — the centerpiece are the recipes culled from her ancestors and extended family. The Appalachian cookery includes the expected, of course, such as Hot Milk Cake, chicken and dumplings, Chess Pie, Pine Lick Mutton Leg and Gravy, Pimento Cheese with a Kick, Classic Benedictine, corn pudding, blackberry jam, Grandma’s Blackberry Cobbler, skillet cornbread — unsweetened, as they like it in Kentucky. But Wilkinson throws in some surprises, as well: greens without bacon or ham, Sautéed Fiddleheads, fried plantains, Creamy Tomato Soup, Chicken Salad with Curry, Wild Berry Lemonade, The Dark Crystal Latte.
In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, Clarkson Potter Publishers and Ten Speed Press in exchange for an honest review.
Wilkinson weaves in some interesting family history, but — as with all cookbooks — the centerpiece are the recipes culled from her ancestors and extended family. The Appalachian cookery includes the expected, of course, such as Hot Milk Cake, chicken and dumplings, Chess Pie, Pine Lick Mutton Leg and Gravy, Pimento Cheese with a Kick, Classic Benedictine, corn pudding, blackberry jam, Grandma’s Blackberry Cobbler, skillet cornbread — unsweetened, as they like it in Kentucky. But Wilkinson throws in some surprises, as well: greens without bacon or ham, Sautéed Fiddleheads, fried plantains, Creamy Tomato Soup, Chicken Salad with Curry, Wild Berry Lemonade, The Dark Crystal Latte.
In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, Clarkson Potter Publishers and Ten Speed Press in exchange for an honest review.
February 5, 2024
I’m going to need a solid 3-5 business days to fully process everything this wonderful, transcendent, evocative, haunting, uplifting, soulful, beautiful book put me through.
5+ stars. This is a masterpiece.
5+ stars. This is a masterpiece.
October 24, 2023
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts left me speechless. It is truly a love story told to honor the food, family, and culture that shaped author Crystal Wilkinson’s life. The book is full of stunning photographs, of both dishes created from the book’s recipes as well as the author’s family photos to accompany stories of generations of her Appalachian Kentucky family. In reading this book, not only did I learn about the history of black Appalachians, I also was greatly convinced of the importance of passing kitchen knowledge on from one generation to another, as much of what this book describes is becoming a lost art. I cannot think of a better way for Wilkinson to honor her ancestors than through lovingly crafting this book. I will definitely be purchasing a physical copy.
Thanks go to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
Thanks go to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
March 13, 2024
Best narrative cookbook I’ve read so far. Oh did I mention that I’ve never read a narrative cookbook? Anyway, this is how you do it. So vulnerable, honest, a little educational, historical and most of all filled with yummy recipes. I want to make them all.
Though I borrowed this book through the library on the Libby app, I will be buying a copy for my Kindle for future referencing. I want to make some of these recipes for my Southern family.
Give it a read. You won’t be disappointed.
Though I borrowed this book through the library on the Libby app, I will be buying a copy for my Kindle for future referencing. I want to make some of these recipes for my Southern family.
Give it a read. You won’t be disappointed.
September 13, 2023
I received a copy of "Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, by Crystal Wilkinson. This is a unique book. The author shares her generations of family recipes. Her family comes from the Appalachian south. She shares fond memories of her family get togethers. with this she shares the recipes that have been served for over 150 years. Some of them going back to relatives who were slaves. She has chapters focusing on holidays and church gatherings and the recipes and delicious dishes that were served. in her book are shared recipes for pork, wonderful desserts, Breakfast recipes, blackberry recipes. and so many other wonderful recipes that her family enjoyed over the years. Wow. all I know is I wish I could sit at that table and sample some of these delicious meals. I enjoyed reading this book. only thing is I had to read it on my phone, guess I am old gal who has never read a book on my phone. First time for everything I guess. I would give this book a 4.5.
February 17, 2024
My daddy taught me to make cornbread by watching him. I don’t ever measure and I can show you better than tell you the recipe for it. I miss him and my grandmothers so.
This book is gorgeous but also full of grief. My family were river boat pilots and coal miners and farmers. You better believe I grew up on soup beans and cornbread 🤤
This book is gorgeous but also full of grief. My family were river boat pilots and coal miners and farmers. You better believe I grew up on soup beans and cornbread 🤤
March 29, 2024
FANTASTIC. This book has it all: history. Memoir. Food. Photos. Appalachia. And more food. Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts reads like a love letter of admiration to the author's maternal ancestors. When I got to the end, I read the author's bio and was not surprised at all to read that she had served as Kentucky's poet laureate for some years. The prose
sang
throughout. It was an honor to be invited (metaphorically) into Ms. Wilkinson's current and past kitchens and spend time there with her and her family. The chapters, arranged by subject (not by "entrees," "sides," "desserts," etc. like many cookbooks) were so masterfully written as to take you right into the scene. I would sit down to a table laden with any or all of the foods mentioned immediately and happily, but at the same time felt like it might almost be an intrusion or a poor facsimile if I attempted most of them myself. Still, I do think I might attempt the blackberry cobbler and the biscuits. Just those two. It would be a joy to take my own boys to pick our own fruit then use it to make a flavorful cobbler... and I'm just the biggest sucker for a good biscuit recipe. I highly recommend checking out this beautifully written (and illustrated with real family photos!) cookbook memoir.
March 1, 2024
I have not yet finished this book because I’m working my way through it, taking time to make some of the recipes along the way and to appreciate the stories being the told.
Crystal Wilkinson and I have very different backgrounds and lives. But I relate to her narrative because:
Food is a part of all of our stories and heritage - food connects us all.
Some of my ancestors come from rural Kentucky, part of Appalachia.
Many of the specific dishes she writes about have a place in my memory too.
I like to cook.
In Crystal’s writing I can hear the kitchen ghosts she is channeling. I can feel the hands in the dirt, I can taste the fresh vegetables, I can smell the aromas in the kitchen.
This is a book you don’t want to read through in a couple days. You want to read some stories, find a recipe that sparks your senses and/or memories and then get into your kitchen and manifest it. Then go back and start again.
One final great thing about this book - Crystal makes the recipes accessible and adaptable for busy people who don’t/can’t spend all day in the kitchen (and may need to use some ready made ingredients) but want to recreate the foods of their ancestors who had to do just that.
Crystal Wilkinson and I have very different backgrounds and lives. But I relate to her narrative because:
Food is a part of all of our stories and heritage - food connects us all.
Some of my ancestors come from rural Kentucky, part of Appalachia.
Many of the specific dishes she writes about have a place in my memory too.
I like to cook.
In Crystal’s writing I can hear the kitchen ghosts she is channeling. I can feel the hands in the dirt, I can taste the fresh vegetables, I can smell the aromas in the kitchen.
This is a book you don’t want to read through in a couple days. You want to read some stories, find a recipe that sparks your senses and/or memories and then get into your kitchen and manifest it. Then go back and start again.
One final great thing about this book - Crystal makes the recipes accessible and adaptable for busy people who don’t/can’t spend all day in the kitchen (and may need to use some ready made ingredients) but want to recreate the foods of their ancestors who had to do just that.
April 19, 2024
Crystal Wilkinson has long been a Kentucky treasure, and I’m glad this book is raising her national profile. She writes evocatively about how food bonded generations of her family in rural Kentucky. But nothing I say about this book will do it justice, so do yourself a favor and read it. Don’t forget to try some of the recipes!
February 23, 2024
I quite simply adored this lyrical book.
August 17, 2023
*This book was received as an Advanced Reviewer's Copy from NetGalley.
Let's start with the title on this book. Was there ever a more well-crafted, evocative title? I certainly don't think so. It's what drew me in. Going deeper into the meaning of it, and the framework of the book, you get a combo cookbook, combo memoir, combo history/sociological lesson; and it's really just a well-done mix of topics. I also appreciated the photography and family memories shared as well.
The author, Wilkinson, uses family history, whether through oral storytelling, written down recipes, or others, to tell of the cooks that came before her. Her family crafted foodways in Appalachia and kept traditions strong, caring for their families and trying to show that love with food. I know the first thing you think of when you think Appalachia is not black families, and that is why this book so deeply resonates (and is touched upon by the author as well). The area is rich in history, but it's not just the mountain men you see in popular media. Families eked out a living and learned to use the availability of goods around them.
I can't say I've made any recipes from this book yet, which I normally try to do before writing a review, but that's no fault of the authors. I just haven't had the time/energy. But there are plenty in here that I would like to try. And honestly, just reading about them was enough. I was hit with memories when I came across the popcorn balls recipe. It brought me back to my grandfather, preparing tons of them for a fundraiser for his social club every year, storing them in trash bags in an unused staircase in the house, the air smelling like candy. I recently just hit the anniversary of his death and this first year has been tough; he's one of my kitchen ghosts and the author's messages resonated with me as a result.
We all have our ghosts, but a kitchen ghost is not a bad thing to have.
Review by M. Reynard 2023
Let's start with the title on this book. Was there ever a more well-crafted, evocative title? I certainly don't think so. It's what drew me in. Going deeper into the meaning of it, and the framework of the book, you get a combo cookbook, combo memoir, combo history/sociological lesson; and it's really just a well-done mix of topics. I also appreciated the photography and family memories shared as well.
The author, Wilkinson, uses family history, whether through oral storytelling, written down recipes, or others, to tell of the cooks that came before her. Her family crafted foodways in Appalachia and kept traditions strong, caring for their families and trying to show that love with food. I know the first thing you think of when you think Appalachia is not black families, and that is why this book so deeply resonates (and is touched upon by the author as well). The area is rich in history, but it's not just the mountain men you see in popular media. Families eked out a living and learned to use the availability of goods around them.
I can't say I've made any recipes from this book yet, which I normally try to do before writing a review, but that's no fault of the authors. I just haven't had the time/energy. But there are plenty in here that I would like to try. And honestly, just reading about them was enough. I was hit with memories when I came across the popcorn balls recipe. It brought me back to my grandfather, preparing tons of them for a fundraiser for his social club every year, storing them in trash bags in an unused staircase in the house, the air smelling like candy. I recently just hit the anniversary of his death and this first year has been tough; he's one of my kitchen ghosts and the author's messages resonated with me as a result.
We all have our ghosts, but a kitchen ghost is not a bad thing to have.
Review by M. Reynard 2023
October 15, 2023
One of the most fascinating and educational cookbooks that I have had the pleasure of reading in years is a true gem in terms of old-fashioned, simple, but well-executed recipes, as well as a treasure-trove of historical information about Appalachian peoples of color. Documented with family genealogy, poignant anecdotes, and lovely photographs, former Kentucky Poet Laureate and O. Henry Prize-winning writer, Crystal Wilkinson’s, “Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks,” is a gastronomic feast for the eyes and stomach.
From fluffy scratch biscuits; to sizzling cast iron skillet cornbread; decadent Indian corn pudding; sinfully rich and buttery chess pie; and authentic burnt-sugar caramel icing (just like my great granny used to make)—these are just a smattering of the homey goodness readers will find in “Kitchen Ghosts.” There are also a few more recipes for exotic local mountain dishes—like sautéed Fiddlehead Ferns—that will make your special meal absolutely gourmet.
I’ve always considered Cookbooks great treasures of any society because they get to the heart and soul of the local culture almost better than other forms of anthropological research because eating is a primal necessity, and what people eat and how it’s prepared reflects not only on the availability of resources, but also the ancestral traditions of those combining ingredients to make a tasty meal for those they love. Crystal Wilkinson’s, “Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks,” is just such a culinary masterpiece.
JoyReaderGirl1 graciously thanks NetGalley, Author Crystal Wilkinson, and Publisher Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press for this advanced reader’s copy (ARC) for review.
From fluffy scratch biscuits; to sizzling cast iron skillet cornbread; decadent Indian corn pudding; sinfully rich and buttery chess pie; and authentic burnt-sugar caramel icing (just like my great granny used to make)—these are just a smattering of the homey goodness readers will find in “Kitchen Ghosts.” There are also a few more recipes for exotic local mountain dishes—like sautéed Fiddlehead Ferns—that will make your special meal absolutely gourmet.
I’ve always considered Cookbooks great treasures of any society because they get to the heart and soul of the local culture almost better than other forms of anthropological research because eating is a primal necessity, and what people eat and how it’s prepared reflects not only on the availability of resources, but also the ancestral traditions of those combining ingredients to make a tasty meal for those they love. Crystal Wilkinson’s, “Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks,” is just such a culinary masterpiece.
JoyReaderGirl1 graciously thanks NetGalley, Author Crystal Wilkinson, and Publisher Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press for this advanced reader’s copy (ARC) for review.
December 13, 2023
I don’t even know where to begin. This was a powerful one. I received this as an ARC and I am counting the days till I can buy it for myself. I am from the western North Carolina part of the Appalachian Mountains. This area is so rich in history and culture but it is often missed out on a legacy that is almost hidden and that is the Black Appalachians. I was so in love with the book. The story telling paired with all the wonderful recipes are absolutely amazing. I love the history of the book, all the old pictures, which are a passion of mine. I loved reading how she grew up and how food became important. I come from the same family history of generations of cooks as the women in our family did whatever they could to make magnificent meals from limited sources. They made everything count and our families were blessed for it. I really loved learning about the history of her Appalachian roots and how they shaped her into who she is. The chicken and dumplings is an all time favorite of mine growing up, along with soup beans, pulled pork and my favorite angel food cake. The recipes were so well written and easy to understand. I loved this book and I keep going back to read it again. I will be buying this as a gift for my daddy whose love of our Appalachian history continues with me. You will love the food, the history and the love in this book. Enjoy.
I highly recommend this to any history buff, any down home cook or any of my Appalachian neighbors to enjoy
I highly recommend this to any history buff, any down home cook or any of my Appalachian neighbors to enjoy
February 17, 2024
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.
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, cookbooks, personal histories, Appalachia, or beautiful storytelling.
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, cookbooks, personal histories, Appalachia, or beautiful storytelling.
January 14, 2024
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks (Hardcover)
by Crystal Wilkinson
Note worthy book for personal history, recipes, and black history in the mountains of Kentucky.
The history shows the difficulty of black land owners in the Appalachian region. The family survived slavery, Jim crow laws, and the great depression. The family problems affect her entire life, from being raised by her grand mother, to the poverty and financial struggles. She is inspiring that she does not blame the family history for their struggles but social inequity and prejudices.
The recipes are introduced not only in the historical concepts but a modern recipes. As you read the story you want to try the recipes for the wonderous descriptions tingle your appetite.
by Crystal Wilkinson
Note worthy book for personal history, recipes, and black history in the mountains of Kentucky.
The history shows the difficulty of black land owners in the Appalachian region. The family survived slavery, Jim crow laws, and the great depression. The family problems affect her entire life, from being raised by her grand mother, to the poverty and financial struggles. She is inspiring that she does not blame the family history for their struggles but social inequity and prejudices.
The recipes are introduced not only in the historical concepts but a modern recipes. As you read the story you want to try the recipes for the wonderous descriptions tingle your appetite.
April 2, 2024
This gorgeous narrative cookbook is pure delight. Spanning generations of family history and cooking, Wilkinson writes in a lyrical, almost musical voice that draws one along like a warm breeze. It resonated with my own Southern roots and the holiday meals my grandmother served, my love of cooking for my own large family, and even the ways I tried to still feed that family during the pandemic. I will return to its pages not just for recipes, but for the generous doses of love between its pages.
December 28, 2023
This book was just lovely. I identified so much with the author's strong pull towards her ancestors, and how the very cells in her being are echoes of the strong women in time. I have ancestors in Casey Co, KY and have heard some of the stories of her African American ancestors. How very exciting to insight into the lives of women who put their heart and soul in nourishing the bodies with food. Awesome recipes! Highly recommend! #praisesongforthekitchenghosts #crystalwilkinson #netgalley #goodreads
March 10, 2024
Lovely (if slightly repetitive) evocation of memory and updating traditional foodways.
March 9, 2024
loved this
December 31, 2023
Thank you so much to this author, the publisher and netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this book.
This is so much more than a cookbook, this is a history lesson, a novel, a cookbook, and an emotional journey all wrapped in one! I fell in love with it! The history aspect isn't huge in your face it's there because you need to understand the true reality that was and still is this author, her families and so many others personal history impacted by the realities of history of their times, it sets the tone for why things were and are at the time. The novel and story is beautiful, heart wrenching and real it's not glossed over because this was her family, no it's raw, real and there and it makes you think of your family and generations past. The recipes were incredible, there was a huge variety of recipes that varied all across the board for anything you want to make and it's not very often where a cookbook has a huge variety of recipes I would love to actually make and there are so many in this book! I cried a couple of times with the memories this author helped invoke (not a bad way just kitchen ghost memories) and that is the mark of a great book. Everyone needs to read this book, this is so much more than a cookbook it is love and a hug in a book! Thank you so much to this incredible author for the opportunity to read this incredible book I really appreciate it!
This is so much more than a cookbook, this is a history lesson, a novel, a cookbook, and an emotional journey all wrapped in one! I fell in love with it! The history aspect isn't huge in your face it's there because you need to understand the true reality that was and still is this author, her families and so many others personal history impacted by the realities of history of their times, it sets the tone for why things were and are at the time. The novel and story is beautiful, heart wrenching and real it's not glossed over because this was her family, no it's raw, real and there and it makes you think of your family and generations past. The recipes were incredible, there was a huge variety of recipes that varied all across the board for anything you want to make and it's not very often where a cookbook has a huge variety of recipes I would love to actually make and there are so many in this book! I cried a couple of times with the memories this author helped invoke (not a bad way just kitchen ghost memories) and that is the mark of a great book. Everyone needs to read this book, this is so much more than a cookbook it is love and a hug in a book! Thank you so much to this incredible author for the opportunity to read this incredible book I really appreciate it!
April 10, 2024
Wilkinson listens to the women of her past and keeps them present with her in the kitchen, so much so that she has been known to hang her Granny's dress in the kitchen with her during the holidays so she's beside her in spirit.
Wilkinson actively listens and evokes her ancestors. Her writing style is flowing and poetic.
The food culture in Black churches help bring people together for fellowship and I enjoyed Wilkinson's chapter on "The Basket Meeting" and her grandmother's contributions. These meals were full of caramel cakes, ambrosia, mac and cheese and cornbread. Even though the author doesn't follow the exact religious traditions of her foremothers, she did create her own traditions. Sundays finds her house filled with music "remembrance and honoring the cooks from down home by cooking a meal large enough for a family of ten" (69) even though she only had three children.
Her memories are shared with photos from the family album but there are a beautiful professional photos of her food. I loved the spread of Angel Food Cake (dressed up for a birthday) along with Pimento Cheese (with a kick) and Classic Benedictine and Chicken Salad with Curry tea sandwiches (110-11).
"What These Women Know About Bread" is a whole treatise (bordering on a rant) about the importance of cornbread, not only how to make it intuitively but also what to serve it with. The attempt to share the recipe over the phone with her husband (while she was away at a writing conference) ends in a quarrel. Her attempt to pass the recipe (only self-rising cornmeal, milk, eggs, and oil for the skillet) down to her daughter is heart-warming. When her daughter finished and it didn't taste like she remembered, Wilkinson responds:
Periodically, Wilkinson will actually converse with her Kitchen Ghosts, asking about her history. At these times, she composes letters or long tales for her Ma Aggy or other long-lost matriarchs to share.
Again, I loved reading Wilkinson's poetic prose and discovering the recipes of a "clan of women who knew their way around a kitchen, christened in the old ways, innovative enough to provide our own twists" (223). More so, I appreciated the history lesson that she imparts to the reader, one of the Appalachian Black farmers who settled in Indian Creek, Virginia.
As with a lot of books reviewed here recently, this book while not borne out of the pandemic, discusses a lot of pandemic experiences---grocery deliveries, "sanitizing" food from outside sources, trying to celebrate holidays without family. Wilkinson ends her book with the two pandemic "Harvest Celebrations" that she attempted. After the first one (2020), she realized that it was the only holiday she had spent without family. For her second Thanksgiving, she just prepared the regular feast, Buttered Pan-Roasted Turkey with Giblet Grave, six sides (from mashed potatoes to candied yams and greens), and cornbread dressing and yeast rolls. Dessert was chess pie. She and her husband then prepared t0-go containers while one member of each family dropped by the house at scheduled times to pick up the holiday feast.
She invented this take-out service to see her grandchildren but to also keep the food traditions alive. She wants here great-grandchildren to be able to eat her grandmother's rolls.
Food brings us together, even when we're not. We can be separated by a pandemic or we can be separated by death; the Kitchen Ghosts are still present.
The Food:
There are at least two recipes shared with every chapter. I really wanted to list them all because they reinforce the varied recipes of not only Black Appalachia but also of every family. Yes, there are the old time recipes for Hot Milk Cake, Jam Cake, and Chicken and Dumplings. But, there are also recipes for Chicken Salad with Curry, Dark Crystal Latte, and No-Egg Scrambled Eggs. While varied, Wilkinson establishes them all as comfort food at its most comforting. Perhaps from the photo I mentioned before, I was really drawn to that pimento cheese. We seem to be buying a lot of it from Costco and I decided to try her recipe.
I don't generally reprint recipes from my cookbook reviews, but just know that using some cream cheese and horseradish elevates regular pimento cheese mightily. I'm saving her jam cake, cucumber spread, and chicken salad to try at a later date.
The concept of kitchen ghosts came to me years ago when I realized that my ancestors are always with me and that the women are most present while I'm chopping or stirring or standing at the stove. The art of cooking and engaging with my kitchen ghosts made me realize that food is never just about the present---every dish, every slice, every crumb and kernel also tethers us to the past. (2)
Wilkinson actively listens and evokes her ancestors. Her writing style is flowing and poetic.
I invite each kitchen ghost in with open arms.
I take up the knife, the spoon, and the apron.
The watch.
I thank them. (34)
The food culture in Black churches help bring people together for fellowship and I enjoyed Wilkinson's chapter on "The Basket Meeting" and her grandmother's contributions. These meals were full of caramel cakes, ambrosia, mac and cheese and cornbread. Even though the author doesn't follow the exact religious traditions of her foremothers, she did create her own traditions. Sundays finds her house filled with music "remembrance and honoring the cooks from down home by cooking a meal large enough for a family of ten" (69) even though she only had three children.
"We church in our own memories while we garden and can and cook" (76).
Her memories are shared with photos from the family album but there are a beautiful professional photos of her food. I loved the spread of Angel Food Cake (dressed up for a birthday) along with Pimento Cheese (with a kick) and Classic Benedictine and Chicken Salad with Curry tea sandwiches (110-11).
"What These Women Know About Bread" is a whole treatise (bordering on a rant) about the importance of cornbread, not only how to make it intuitively but also what to serve it with. The attempt to share the recipe over the phone with her husband (while she was away at a writing conference) ends in a quarrel. Her attempt to pass the recipe (only self-rising cornmeal, milk, eggs, and oil for the skillet) down to her daughter is heart-warming. When her daughter finished and it didn't taste like she remembered, Wilkinson responds:
...I assured her that this moment, too, was as old as time, that we never thought we were as good as those old women who'd done it before us until they were gone. (140)
Periodically, Wilkinson will actually converse with her Kitchen Ghosts, asking about her history. At these times, she composes letters or long tales for her Ma Aggy or other long-lost matriarchs to share.
Again, I loved reading Wilkinson's poetic prose and discovering the recipes of a "clan of women who knew their way around a kitchen, christened in the old ways, innovative enough to provide our own twists" (223). More so, I appreciated the history lesson that she imparts to the reader, one of the Appalachian Black farmers who settled in Indian Creek, Virginia.
As with a lot of books reviewed here recently, this book while not borne out of the pandemic, discusses a lot of pandemic experiences---grocery deliveries, "sanitizing" food from outside sources, trying to celebrate holidays without family. Wilkinson ends her book with the two pandemic "Harvest Celebrations" that she attempted. After the first one (2020), she realized that it was the only holiday she had spent without family. For her second Thanksgiving, she just prepared the regular feast, Buttered Pan-Roasted Turkey with Giblet Grave, six sides (from mashed potatoes to candied yams and greens), and cornbread dressing and yeast rolls. Dessert was chess pie. She and her husband then prepared t0-go containers while one member of each family dropped by the house at scheduled times to pick up the holiday feast.
She invented this take-out service to see her grandchildren but to also keep the food traditions alive. She wants here great-grandchildren to be able to eat her grandmother's rolls.
I am keenly aware that Black Appalachian foodways are a legacy to be treasured, to be passed on to the next and the next and the next. I'm thankful that my children and grandchildren will find their won ways to morph and change culinary traditions, to ad to and subtract from their mother's mother's mother's ways, to honor the calling of the kitchen ghosts, however they see fit. (233)
Food brings us together, even when we're not. We can be separated by a pandemic or we can be separated by death; the Kitchen Ghosts are still present.
The Food:
There are at least two recipes shared with every chapter. I really wanted to list them all because they reinforce the varied recipes of not only Black Appalachia but also of every family. Yes, there are the old time recipes for Hot Milk Cake, Jam Cake, and Chicken and Dumplings. But, there are also recipes for Chicken Salad with Curry, Dark Crystal Latte, and No-Egg Scrambled Eggs. While varied, Wilkinson establishes them all as comfort food at its most comforting. Perhaps from the photo I mentioned before, I was really drawn to that pimento cheese. We seem to be buying a lot of it from Costco and I decided to try her recipe.
I don't generally reprint recipes from my cookbook reviews, but just know that using some cream cheese and horseradish elevates regular pimento cheese mightily. I'm saving her jam cake, cucumber spread, and chicken salad to try at a later date.
March 29, 2024
This is a beautifully written memoir/family history highlighting all the women in Crystal Wilkinson's family line and how cooking was their legacy and way of showing love. Crystal became the family keeper of stories and family recipes. Looking back at five generations of Wilkinson women Crystal tells their family story through food. She is also telling the story of Black Appalachian history through cooking as well. Going from slavery days to the modern day this beautifully written collection of essays will make you want to get in the kitchen and make some of your own food memories. Each essay covers a food topic and is followed by a few recipes that are mentioned in that essay or Crystal's updated version. There is a struggle between keeping family recipes in the traditional way and creating more modern/updated versions. I thought Crystal did a great job illuminating that struggle. She was vegetarian off and on for 20 years and at times wouldn't eat her grandmother's food that was seasoned with pork and her grandmother never understood that. Today Crystal tries to keep her family's cooking legacy alive by making both the traditional recipes and her own updated/recreated versions. I just can't reiterate enough how beautifully written this book is. I wish it was twice as long so I could keep reading more. There are several recipes I'd like to try as well.
Some quotes I liked:
"I reach back in my memory. I can see us there on the hillside, but I have forgotten so much that I thought I'd never need. I am a child of plenty. I was never hungry. Food was never scarce. When I was a child, I thought this information was expendable...By the time I came along, my grandmother was already putting the harder days of her life behind her. Days of hunger pangs and worry about how she and my grandfather would feed their seven children were gone. She wanted to show me the family's old ways, but we weren't out at first light when the dew dried out of necessity." (p. 41)
"During slavery and even after manumission, not many Black people had the fortune of eating 'high on the hog' (loins, pork chops, ham). Instead they adapted with resilience and skill and made the offal 'low parts' into delicacies. My grandfather often recalled a recurring heartbreak he suffered as a young husband and father. A racist man he worked for refused even the offal to him. 'He would rather see the chitlins rot on the ground than see me take them home to feed my young'uns,' Grandaddy said. The resounding ancestral memory of my people doing without echoes loud in me still." (p. 194)
"It never dawned on me that my daughters wouldn't be exactly like me, staunch feminists who lean into their domesticated side. While Ron washes all the dishes, launders our clothes, keeps the house clean, I work outside our home as a writer and professor and I cook all the meals. I don't have to cook and sometimes I don't, but cooking is how I commune with our ancestors. I love cooking. It's one way that my family knows I care. Wouldn't my children follow in my footsteps? Perhaps it's my generation, but I've never seen cooking as an oppressive act, though it was for some of my foremothers." (p. 229-230)
"I have the privilege of education, of making a living from my mind and not my domestic labor in a white woman's kitchen. I cook out of homage, for pleasure, and not by bound duty. I am keenly aware that Black Appalachian foodways are a legacy to be treasured, to be passed on to the next and the next and the next. I'm thankful that my children and grandchildren will find their own ways to morph and change culinary traditions, to add to and subtract from their mother's mother's mother's ways, to honor the calling of the kitchen ghosts, however they see fit." (p. 233)
Some quotes I liked:
"I reach back in my memory. I can see us there on the hillside, but I have forgotten so much that I thought I'd never need. I am a child of plenty. I was never hungry. Food was never scarce. When I was a child, I thought this information was expendable...By the time I came along, my grandmother was already putting the harder days of her life behind her. Days of hunger pangs and worry about how she and my grandfather would feed their seven children were gone. She wanted to show me the family's old ways, but we weren't out at first light when the dew dried out of necessity." (p. 41)
"During slavery and even after manumission, not many Black people had the fortune of eating 'high on the hog' (loins, pork chops, ham). Instead they adapted with resilience and skill and made the offal 'low parts' into delicacies. My grandfather often recalled a recurring heartbreak he suffered as a young husband and father. A racist man he worked for refused even the offal to him. 'He would rather see the chitlins rot on the ground than see me take them home to feed my young'uns,' Grandaddy said. The resounding ancestral memory of my people doing without echoes loud in me still." (p. 194)
"It never dawned on me that my daughters wouldn't be exactly like me, staunch feminists who lean into their domesticated side. While Ron washes all the dishes, launders our clothes, keeps the house clean, I work outside our home as a writer and professor and I cook all the meals. I don't have to cook and sometimes I don't, but cooking is how I commune with our ancestors. I love cooking. It's one way that my family knows I care. Wouldn't my children follow in my footsteps? Perhaps it's my generation, but I've never seen cooking as an oppressive act, though it was for some of my foremothers." (p. 229-230)
"I have the privilege of education, of making a living from my mind and not my domestic labor in a white woman's kitchen. I cook out of homage, for pleasure, and not by bound duty. I am keenly aware that Black Appalachian foodways are a legacy to be treasured, to be passed on to the next and the next and the next. I'm thankful that my children and grandchildren will find their own ways to morph and change culinary traditions, to add to and subtract from their mother's mother's mother's ways, to honor the calling of the kitchen ghosts, however they see fit." (p. 233)
August 20, 2023
Synopsis (from Amazon)
******************************************************
I was declined the ability to review this book but as all librarians KNOW people (including other librarians!), I was able to borrow it and am reviewing it nonetheless.
A lyrical culinary journey that explores the hidden legacy of Black Appalachians, through powerful storytelling alongside nearly forty comforting recipes, from the former poet laureate of Kentucky.
People are always surprised that Black people reside in the hills of Appalachia. Those not surprised that we were there, are surprised that we stayed.
Years ago, when O. Henry Prize-winning writer Crystal Wilkinson was baking a jam cake, she felt her late grandmother’s presence. She soon realized that she was not the only cook in her kitchen; there were her ancestors, too, stirring, measuring, and braising alongside her. These are her kitchen ghosts, five generations of Black women who settled in Appalachia and made a life, a legacy, and a cuisine.
An expert cook, Wilkinson shares nearly forty family recipes rooted deep in the past, full of flavour—delicious favourites including Corn Pudding, Chicken and Dumplings, Granny Christine’s Jam Cake, and Praisesong Biscuits, brought to vivid life through stunning photography. Together, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts honours the mothers who came before, the land that provided for generations of her family, and the untold heritage of Black Appalachia.
As the keeper of her family’s stories and treasured dishes, Wilkinson shares her inheritance in Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts. She found their stories in her apron pockets, floating inside the steam of hot mustard greens and tucked into the sweet scent of clove and cinnamon in her kitchen. Part memoir, part cookbook, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts weaves those stories together with recipes, family photos, and a lyrical imagination to present a culinary portrait of a family that has lived and worked the earth of the mountains for over a century.
Now this is my kind of cookbook – simple, honest food with lots of leftovers and lots of biscuits!!! (Truth be told, I am having a biscuit tattoo added to my arm later this month when I could get an appointment with a new but excellent artist!) I cannot imagine baking or cooking in a dress like worn by the woman on the cover – I hate a hot kitchen. But then again, there were times when one had no choice but to cook in an outfit like that due to the propriety of time time. (I look a the photos of my great aunts who did not marry as their job was to care for my great grandfather and wonder how they cooked, cleaned and did the laundry in such finery and layers of clothing with deodorant decades away!)
But these recipes are worth having to cook in the heat – I can see wearing this book out cooking over and over from it: it was so appealing that I pre-ordered a personal copy of it for myself.
A great gift idea as well! #shortbutsweetreviews
******************************************************
I was declined the ability to review this book but as all librarians KNOW people (including other librarians!), I was able to borrow it and am reviewing it nonetheless.
A lyrical culinary journey that explores the hidden legacy of Black Appalachians, through powerful storytelling alongside nearly forty comforting recipes, from the former poet laureate of Kentucky.
People are always surprised that Black people reside in the hills of Appalachia. Those not surprised that we were there, are surprised that we stayed.
Years ago, when O. Henry Prize-winning writer Crystal Wilkinson was baking a jam cake, she felt her late grandmother’s presence. She soon realized that she was not the only cook in her kitchen; there were her ancestors, too, stirring, measuring, and braising alongside her. These are her kitchen ghosts, five generations of Black women who settled in Appalachia and made a life, a legacy, and a cuisine.
An expert cook, Wilkinson shares nearly forty family recipes rooted deep in the past, full of flavour—delicious favourites including Corn Pudding, Chicken and Dumplings, Granny Christine’s Jam Cake, and Praisesong Biscuits, brought to vivid life through stunning photography. Together, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts honours the mothers who came before, the land that provided for generations of her family, and the untold heritage of Black Appalachia.
As the keeper of her family’s stories and treasured dishes, Wilkinson shares her inheritance in Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts. She found their stories in her apron pockets, floating inside the steam of hot mustard greens and tucked into the sweet scent of clove and cinnamon in her kitchen. Part memoir, part cookbook, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts weaves those stories together with recipes, family photos, and a lyrical imagination to present a culinary portrait of a family that has lived and worked the earth of the mountains for over a century.
Now this is my kind of cookbook – simple, honest food with lots of leftovers and lots of biscuits!!! (Truth be told, I am having a biscuit tattoo added to my arm later this month when I could get an appointment with a new but excellent artist!) I cannot imagine baking or cooking in a dress like worn by the woman on the cover – I hate a hot kitchen. But then again, there were times when one had no choice but to cook in an outfit like that due to the propriety of time time. (I look a the photos of my great aunts who did not marry as their job was to care for my great grandfather and wonder how they cooked, cleaned and did the laundry in such finery and layers of clothing with deodorant decades away!)
But these recipes are worth having to cook in the heat – I can see wearing this book out cooking over and over from it: it was so appealing that I pre-ordered a personal copy of it for myself.
A great gift idea as well! #shortbutsweetreviews
August 12, 2023
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghost
Stories and Recipes From Five Generations of Black Country Cooks
Crystal Wilkinson
Author Crystal Wilkinson grew up on her grandparent’s farm in the hills of Appalachia in Indian Hill, KY. Her grandfather raised. She was born in 1962 in Hamilton, Ohio. Her grandfather was a tobacco farmer; he also raised corn and made homemade sorghum molasses. Her grandmother was a domestic worker for the local schoolteachers.
Crystal shares the history of her family through the recipes in this book. “…food is never just about the present---every dish, every slice, every crumb and kernel also tethers us to the past.” “The recipes in this book were influenced by the matriarchs of the Wilkinson family. Many of the recipes date back to the 1700s.”
The first recipe she shares with readers is Granny Christine’s Jam Cake. Among the recipes in this book the reader will find: Hot Milk Cake, Chicken and Dumplings, Meatless Greens, Sauteed Fiddleheads, Dressed Eggs, Pine Lick Mutton Leg and Gravy, Basket Meeting Green Beans and New Potatoes, Pimento Cheese With A Kick, Classic Benedictine (Cucumber Spread), Wild Berry Lemonade, Gingerbread and Sauce, Sweet Sorghum Cookies, Hearty Vegetable Soup With Hamburger, Indian Creek Chili, Chicken And Noodles, Ron’s Pulled Pork, and Easy Old -Fashioned Popcorn Balls.
I have tried several of the recipes and they are delicious. My husband loves Chicken and Dumplings but I have never been able to get it quite right until I used the recipe in Praisesong For the Kitchen Ghost. While I enjoyed the recipes very much it is the history and stories of author Crystal Wilkinson’s family that truly touched my heart.
Thank you Netgalley for a review copy of this book. My review is my unbiased opinion.
Stories and Recipes From Five Generations of Black Country Cooks
Crystal Wilkinson
Author Crystal Wilkinson grew up on her grandparent’s farm in the hills of Appalachia in Indian Hill, KY. Her grandfather raised. She was born in 1962 in Hamilton, Ohio. Her grandfather was a tobacco farmer; he also raised corn and made homemade sorghum molasses. Her grandmother was a domestic worker for the local schoolteachers.
Crystal shares the history of her family through the recipes in this book. “…food is never just about the present---every dish, every slice, every crumb and kernel also tethers us to the past.” “The recipes in this book were influenced by the matriarchs of the Wilkinson family. Many of the recipes date back to the 1700s.”
The first recipe she shares with readers is Granny Christine’s Jam Cake. Among the recipes in this book the reader will find: Hot Milk Cake, Chicken and Dumplings, Meatless Greens, Sauteed Fiddleheads, Dressed Eggs, Pine Lick Mutton Leg and Gravy, Basket Meeting Green Beans and New Potatoes, Pimento Cheese With A Kick, Classic Benedictine (Cucumber Spread), Wild Berry Lemonade, Gingerbread and Sauce, Sweet Sorghum Cookies, Hearty Vegetable Soup With Hamburger, Indian Creek Chili, Chicken And Noodles, Ron’s Pulled Pork, and Easy Old -Fashioned Popcorn Balls.
I have tried several of the recipes and they are delicious. My husband loves Chicken and Dumplings but I have never been able to get it quite right until I used the recipe in Praisesong For the Kitchen Ghost. While I enjoyed the recipes very much it is the history and stories of author Crystal Wilkinson’s family that truly touched my heart.
Thank you Netgalley for a review copy of this book. My review is my unbiased opinion.
August 20, 2023
Good recipes are most fun if they are shared, and even better if they are heirloom recipes from families. Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks . Crystal Wilkinson (who is a cook and an award winning poet), not only shares recipes from generations of her family who settled in Appalachia, but tells wonderful stories of the ancestors who prepared them. The stories are well-written, historical, and fascinating. Wilkinson has a gift and brings out the personalities of those who developed the recipes, making it seem like we are making recipes from beloved friends and relatives. According to Wilkinson, she feels her ancestors’ presence when she is making the recipes; readers should be so lucky.
The recipes represent southern cooking at the highest (and most delicious) level. The recipes are written in the traditional manner with the ingredients listed, followed by step-by-step instructions. This makes it easy for both beginning and advanced cooks to enjoy preparing and presenting the recipes to those they love to feed.
One of the best parts of this book is that there are beautiful photographs, not only of the people in the stories, but also of the mouthwatering recipes.
This is a book that most readers will want to curl up in a corner and read cover to cover. It is historical, and includes recipes that most of us will want to make. Readers will also fall in love with Wilkinson’s family and wish they were a part of it. Five well-earned stars!
Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.
The recipes represent southern cooking at the highest (and most delicious) level. The recipes are written in the traditional manner with the ingredients listed, followed by step-by-step instructions. This makes it easy for both beginning and advanced cooks to enjoy preparing and presenting the recipes to those they love to feed.
One of the best parts of this book is that there are beautiful photographs, not only of the people in the stories, but also of the mouthwatering recipes.
This is a book that most readers will want to curl up in a corner and read cover to cover. It is historical, and includes recipes that most of us will want to make. Readers will also fall in love with Wilkinson’s family and wish they were a part of it. Five well-earned stars!
Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.
February 15, 2024
I love the generic combinations of this book, which is at once a personal and familial memoir, a cookbook, and a speculative history. Its echoes of the family album or scrapbook remind me of Nikky Finney's Love Child's Hotbed of Occasional Poetry: Poems & Artifacts, which is appropriate, since Wilkinson and Finney are friends and used to work together at the MFA program at University of Kentucky. By understanding intergenerational Black women's legacies through gardening, foraging, and cooking, Wilkinson at once pays homage to the ingenuity and expertise that went into survival both in and beyond enslavement, and she also nods to the labor and exhaustion that have been Black women's lot, never sacrificing the one to the other in her loving yet exacting appraisal. Wilkinson writes of loss--her mother's death, the family farm sold off, pandemic isolation--and uses the figure of ghosts to think through how grief and creativity, death and sustenance are connected. It's a beautiful book with an ecological as well as a Black feminist sensibility. I was very moved by the echoes between the recipes found there (pots of beans, skillet cornbread) and the recipes that graced my white Alabaman sharecropper grandmother's table, though my family's roots are in the red clay of Alabama instead of the mountains of Kentucky.
August 18, 2023
My mother was the very model of a modern mid-century housewife, cooking for her family using the latest in convenience foods: condensed soups, processed cheese, and boxes of dry casserole helpers. But Thanksgiving and Christmas were two occasions when she went traditional with roasted turkey, real mashed potatoes, the works. When I turned the page and saw Crystal Wilkinson’s recipe for Vegetable Soup with Hamburger, it took me right back to our home on Sussex Drive, my mother standing in front of the stove, “veggie-burger soup” on the stove and cornbread in the oven. It was our Christmas Eve meal. I thought, as a white suburbanite, I would be reading Wilkinson’s words in the abstract, but it turns out I have my own kitchen ghosts.
Crystal Wilkinson is a former Kentucky poet laureate and O Henry award winner and her writing is beautiful and evocative. She starts a few generations in the past, sharing stories of family gatherings, church meetings, survival (while enslaved and during the depression), gardening, and other traditions that led to family recipes. I loved looking at the beautiful photos as much as I enjoyed the poetic writing. I may not make any of the recipes but that’s not the point. Reading this beautiful book, we learn a great deal about a black Appalachian culture that might otherwise be forgotten.
Many thanks to Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
Crystal Wilkinson is a former Kentucky poet laureate and O Henry award winner and her writing is beautiful and evocative. She starts a few generations in the past, sharing stories of family gatherings, church meetings, survival (while enslaved and during the depression), gardening, and other traditions that led to family recipes. I loved looking at the beautiful photos as much as I enjoyed the poetic writing. I may not make any of the recipes but that’s not the point. Reading this beautiful book, we learn a great deal about a black Appalachian culture that might otherwise be forgotten.
Many thanks to Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
January 25, 2024
I was intrigued by the book and thought it would be an interesting read. Food of course its own place in Black history, so I was very curious to see what the author had to say. Five generations? There has to be lots of interesting stories and tales to tell.
The text weaves between WIlkinson's memoir and recipes of the various foods she has eaten and what they mean and who made this particular dish. The dishes get a breakdown (and recipes), plus the context of which Wilkinson ate it (and who made it for her and why, etc.). So you get a tale of her family and how she came to be plus the foods that nourished her and her family along the way.
Overall, I thought this was pretty dull. Although there is a lot of history here, I just did not find the author's writing style one that kept me going. I was not interested in either her family's history or the dishes. Perhaps it was me, maybe it was just not the right fit, but I was surprised by the many positive reviews.
Certainly it is definitely a fit for other people. If you have a story similar to Wilkinson's or know people who do, this would be interesting. If you are looking for a cookbook, this is definitely not it, although if you have a specific interest in the history or region this could be an interesting read.
Borrowed from the library and that was best for me.
The text weaves between WIlkinson's memoir and recipes of the various foods she has eaten and what they mean and who made this particular dish. The dishes get a breakdown (and recipes), plus the context of which Wilkinson ate it (and who made it for her and why, etc.). So you get a tale of her family and how she came to be plus the foods that nourished her and her family along the way.
Overall, I thought this was pretty dull. Although there is a lot of history here, I just did not find the author's writing style one that kept me going. I was not interested in either her family's history or the dishes. Perhaps it was me, maybe it was just not the right fit, but I was surprised by the many positive reviews.
Certainly it is definitely a fit for other people. If you have a story similar to Wilkinson's or know people who do, this would be interesting. If you are looking for a cookbook, this is definitely not it, although if you have a specific interest in the history or region this could be an interesting read.
Borrowed from the library and that was best for me.
February 3, 2024
This was a beautiful book. Wilkinson takes you back through history and her own life to talk about the love and foodways in her past. Her history lies in Appalachia, and she has traced her ancestry at least as far as the 1700s, an incredible feat given the lack of documentation surrounding enslaved peoples.
Despite recounting some true horrors of slavery, the tone of this book is gentle. What really comes through is the expression of love through food. There are recipes included with each chapter and they absolutely make me hungry. I want to try many of them.
The other interesting thing about this book is that it covers the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic and how the lockdown affected family gatherings and your ability to express love in multitude of ways, including the inability to gather and eat.
I loved this beautiful glimpse into the past, getting to know Wilkinson's family through both her anecdotes and her imagination and learning so many of the traditions that her family held close over the years. I envy her those treasured recipes she has and my heart hears hers when she speaks of not knowing some because they were only ever just made.
If you enjoy books about food history, if you enjoy books about family, if you like your cookbooks with stories, this is a great book to try. Would pair beautifully with any of Michael Twitty's books.
Despite recounting some true horrors of slavery, the tone of this book is gentle. What really comes through is the expression of love through food. There are recipes included with each chapter and they absolutely make me hungry. I want to try many of them.
The other interesting thing about this book is that it covers the early period of the Covid-19 pandemic and how the lockdown affected family gatherings and your ability to express love in multitude of ways, including the inability to gather and eat.
I loved this beautiful glimpse into the past, getting to know Wilkinson's family through both her anecdotes and her imagination and learning so many of the traditions that her family held close over the years. I envy her those treasured recipes she has and my heart hears hers when she speaks of not knowing some because they were only ever just made.
If you enjoy books about food history, if you enjoy books about family, if you like your cookbooks with stories, this is a great book to try. Would pair beautifully with any of Michael Twitty's books.
March 8, 2024
In the acknowledgments, Crystal Wilkinson wrote that this “is a book of the heart”, which is the perfect way to describe this book. Reading this truly felt like coming home for the holidays, listening to family stories while the food was being prepared and cooked. This is a love story that is told through food through the generations.
Wilkinson’s writing is beautiful, and full of spirit and soul, you can feel it in every page as she relives her childhood, tells family stories, and shares recipes. Her writing style makes it feel as if you are truly apart of their family dinners, hearing these stories yourself.
This book especially resonates with me as I come from an Italian-American household where food is a big part of what we do. A lot of my elders that I would’ve learned more traditional meals from sadly passed away, either before I was born or too young to really understand their processes. As a result, I’ve spent a lot of time the last few years learning new recipes that my dad grew up on. I love the way Wilkinson writes about how connected she feels when she uses recipes and pots and pans that have been passed down through the generations as this is exactly how I feel when I use mine.
I love the passion Wilkinson has for both staying true to her family’s original recipes as well as expanding on them for today’s taste buds and busy life stories.
Wilkinson’s writing is beautiful, and full of spirit and soul, you can feel it in every page as she relives her childhood, tells family stories, and shares recipes. Her writing style makes it feel as if you are truly apart of their family dinners, hearing these stories yourself.
This book especially resonates with me as I come from an Italian-American household where food is a big part of what we do. A lot of my elders that I would’ve learned more traditional meals from sadly passed away, either before I was born or too young to really understand their processes. As a result, I’ve spent a lot of time the last few years learning new recipes that my dad grew up on. I love the way Wilkinson writes about how connected she feels when she uses recipes and pots and pans that have been passed down through the generations as this is exactly how I feel when I use mine.
I love the passion Wilkinson has for both staying true to her family’s original recipes as well as expanding on them for today’s taste buds and busy life stories.
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