Culinary Roots

Soul food dressed to the nines - that best describes the recipes in this collection. Flavored with stories that raised families from generation to another. The recipes are delightful twists to the favorite dishes of an Ohio born and Florida raised cook - Brenda L. Jackson. Down home meets elegant.

2018 James Beard Foundation Book of the Year | 2018 James Beard Foundation Book Award Winner inWriting | Nominee for the 2018 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Nonfiction | #75 on The Root100 2018 A renowned culinary historian offers a fresh perspective on our most divisive cultural issue, race, in this illuminating memoir of Southern cuisine and food culture that traces his ancestry—both black and white—through food, from Africa to America and slavery to freedom. Southern food is integral to the American culinary tradition, yet the question of who "owns" it is one of the most provocative touch points in our ongoing struggles over race. In this unique memoir, culinary historian Michael W. Twitty takes readers to the white-hot center of this fight, tracing the roots of his own family and the charged politics surrounding the origins of soul food, barbecue, and all Southern cuisine. From the tobacco and rice farms of colonial times to plantation kitchens and backbreaking cotton fields, Twitty tells his family story through the foods that enabled his ancestors’ survival across three centuries. He sifts through stories, recipes, genetic tests, and historical documents, and travels from Civil War battlefields in Virginia to synagogues in Alabama to Black-owned organic farms in Georgia. As he takes us through his ancestral culinary history, Twitty suggests that healing may come from embracing the discomfort of the Southern past. Along the way, he reveals a truth that is more than skin deep—the power that food has to bring the kin of the enslaved and their former slaveholders to the table, where they can discover the real America together. Illustrations by Stephen Crotts

Casablanca is the exciting debut from Moroccan chef Nargisse Benkabbou. This book features more than 80 recipes for simple and satisfying dishes such as Artichoke tagine with peas, baby potatoes & preserved lemons, Peach & ras el hanout short rib stew with garlic mash and Sweet potato & feta maakouda. Also featured are tasty western classics with a unique Moroccan twist: try your hand at Kefta & kale mac & cheese, Roasted almond & couscous stuffed poussin and Moroccan mint tea infused chocolate pots. Nargisse breathes new life into Moroccan cuisine, blending that authentic Moroccan spirit and the contemporary to create accessible recipes for the everyday.

Brenda L. Jackson is back in the kitchen and this time she is introducing us to everything from Bubba Ham to Turtle Stew!

A cookbook featuring more than 65 recipes that make use of the parts of vegetables that typically get thrown away, including stalks, tops, ribs, fronds, and stems, with creative tips for making the most of seasonal ingredients to stretch the kitchen dollar. Make the Most of Your Produce! Don’t discard those carrot tops, broccoli stalks, potato peels, and pea pods. The secret that creative restaurant chefs and thrifty great-grandmothers share is that these, and other common kitchen scraps, are both edible and wonderfully flavorful. Root-to-Stalk Cooking provides savvy cooks with the inspiration, tips, and techniques to transform trimmings into delicious meals. Corn husks and cobs make for rich Corn-Pancetta Puddings in Corn Husk Baskets, watermelon rinds shine in a crisp and refreshing Thai Watermelon Salad, and velvety green leek tops star in Leek Greens Stir Fry with Salty Pork. Featuring sixty-five recipes that celebrate the whole vegetable, Root-to-Stalk Cooking helps you get the most out of your seasonal ingredients. By using husks, roots, skins, cores, stems, seeds, and rinds to their full potential, you’ll discover a whole new world of flavors while reducing waste and saving money.

“Twitty makes the case that Blackness and Judaism coexist in beautiful harmony, and this is manifested in the foods and traditions from both cultures that Black Jews incorporate into their daily lives…Twitty wishes to start a conversation where people celebrate their differences and embrace commonalities. By drawing on personal narratives, his own and others’, and exploring different cultures, Twitty’s book offers important insight into the journeys of Black Jews.”—Library Journal “A fascinating, cross-cultural smorgasbord grounded in the deep emotional role food plays in two influential American communities.”—Booklist The James Beard award-winning author of the acclaimed The Cooking Gene explores the cultural crossroads of Jewish and African diaspora cuisine and issues of memory, identity, and food. In Koshersoul, Michael W. Twitty considers the marriage of two of the most distinctive culinary cultures in the world today: the foods and traditions of the African Atlantic and the global Jewish diaspora. To Twitty, the creation of African-Jewish cooking is a conversation of migrations and a dialogue of diasporas offering a rich background for inventive recipes and the people who create them. The question that most intrigues him is not just who makes the food, but how the food makes the people. Jews of Color are not outliers, Twitty contends, but significant and meaningful cultural creators in both Black and Jewish civilizations. Koshersoul also explores how food has shaped the journeys of numerous cooks, including Twitty’s own passage to and within Judaism. As intimate, thought-provoking, and profound as The Cooking Gene, this remarkable book teases the senses as it offers sustenance for the soul. Koshersoul includes 48-50 recipes.

An Eater Best Cookbook of Fall 2020 From caramelized onions to fruit preserves, make home cooking quick and easy with ten simple "kitchen heroes" in these 125 recipes from the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Deep Run Roots. “I wrote this book to inspire you, and I promise it will change the way you cook, the way you think about what’s in your fridge, the way you see yourself in an apron.” Vivian Howard’s first cookbook chronicling the food of Eastern North Carolina, Deep Run Roots, was named one of the best of the year by 18 national publications, including the New York Times, USA Today, Bon Appetit, and Eater, and won an unprecedented four IACP awards, including Cookbook of the Year. Now, Vivian returns with an essential work of home-cooking genius that makes simple food exciting and accessible, no matter your skill level in the kitchen. ​ Each chapter of This Will Make It Taste Good is built on a flavor hero—a simple but powerful recipe like her briny green sauce, spiced nuts, fruit preserves, deeply caramelized onions, and spicy pickled tomatoes. Like a belt that lends you a waist when you’re feeling baggy, these flavor heroes brighten, deepen, and define your food. Many of these recipes are kitchen crutches, dead-easy, super-quick meals to lean on when you’re limping toward dinner. There are also kitchen projects, adventures to bring some more joy into your life. Vivian’s mission is not to protect you from time in your kitchen, but to help you make the most of the time you’ve got. Nothing is complicated, and more than half the dishes are vegetarian, gluten-free, or both. These recipes use ingredients that are easy to find, keep around, and cook with—lots of chicken, prepared in a bevy of ways to keep it interesting, and common vegetables like broccoli, kale, squash, and sweet potatoes that look good no matter where you shop. And because food is the language Vivian uses to talk about her life, that’s what these recipes do, next to stories that offer a glimpse at the people, challenges, and lessons learned that stock the pantry of her life.

Step into the tantalizing world of "Culinary Chemistry," a captivating story that seamlessly melds the aromatic allure of a competitive cooking school with the enchanting essence of unexpected romance. In the heart of this culinary journey, you'll meet Gianni and Celine, two aspiring chefs whose vastly different culinary styles lead them down a path of intertwining destinies. Within the bustling confines of a prestigious cooking school, these two gifted individuals are thrust together as unlikely cooking partners. Their collaboration starts off with an air of foreboding, as their contrasting techniques and diverse palates appear destined to clash. The kitchen becomes a stage for both fiery clashes and unpredictable collaborations, much like the dance of flames beneath a simmering pot. Yet, in the world of culinary enchantment, where the right blend of spices can transform a dish and humble ingredients can evoke profound emotions, fate weaves a sumptuous tapestry for Gianni and Celine. As they labor to perfect their culinary creations, their differences, instead of driving them apart, become the very force that draws them closer. Their journey is seasoned with thrilling culinary showdowns, where audacious flavors collide with delicate subtleties. Yet, beyond the heat of the stovetop and the captivating aromas that fill the air, a recipe of an altogether different kind is brewing between them, one for love, as unexpected and delectable as their creations. Within the pages of this book, you'll accompany Gianni and Celine as they embark on a spellbinding adventure of flavors, emotions, and personal growth. Witness how their culinary innovations evolve alongside their relationship, harmoniously blending like the most exquisite ingredients in a masterful dish. Prepare yourself to relish the art of compromise, the wonder of fusion, and the sheer delight of discovering new passions. As the fragrance of their culinary prowess envelops you, you'll find that Gianni and Celine's journey through the realm of "Culinary Chemistry" is a jubilant homage to the transformative might of food and the enchantment that unfolds when two hearts converge over a shared love for the culinary arts. So, don your apron and buckle up; it's time to immerse yourself in the enticing universe of flavors, emotions, and the irresistible allure of culinary romance. Welcome to "Culinary Chemistry," where the most delectable creations aren't solely plated, but thrive within the hearts of those who craft them.