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African-American Cookbooks
to Feed the Soul

The Food Heritage Press is proud to offer a select list of African-American cookbooks. We hope to add many more quality books to this section. If you know of a book that should be on this list please send an e-mail message to: Food Heritage Press To order any of the books on this page print out the order form and send it to your printer, fill it out and mail it to the Food Heritage Press. Updated November 28, 2004.

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Good Things to Eat: As Suggested by Rufus. By Rufus Estes. A Collection of Practical Recipes for Preparing Meats, Game, Fowl, Fish, Puddings, Pastries, Etc. A facsimile of the 1911 edition with 56 images from the 1800s and early 1900s illuminating Mr. Estes' life and time. Rufus Estes was born a slave, yet became one of the finest chefs of 1911 and one of the first African Americans to author a cookbook. Howling at the Moon Press. 1999. Paper. Illus. 142 pp. $19.95

173 Pre-Prohibition Cocktails. By Tom Bullock For almosty a century tom Bullock's cocktail recipes, so delectable an editorial in the St. Louis Dispatch (May 28, 1913) compared them to “the liquefied soul of a southern moonbeam,” were lost. Now you can charm your guests, make special occasions legendary, and bring old-world romance to intimate moments with these scrumptious libations from history. These recipes were first recorded by Tom Bullock, an American of African descent, in his 1917 book The Ideal Bartender. He was born shortly after the end of the Civil War in Louisville, KY. Howling at the Moon Press. Š 2001 Paper. 112 pages. Illus. Stock # HM002 $14.95

Mama Dip's Kitchen by Mildred Council. For nearly twenty-five years, Mama Dip has nourished thousands of hungry folks in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Her restaurant, Mama Dip's Kitchen, is a much-loved community institution that has gained loyal fans and customers from all walks of life, from New York Times food writer Craig Claiborne to former Tar Heel basketball player Michael Jordan. This highly anticipated cookbook by Mama Dip showcases the same down-home, wholesome, everyday Southern cooking for which its namesake restaurant is celebrated. Š 1999 256 pages. Hardcover $27.50, Paper $15.95

The Carolina Rice Kitchen: The African Connection. Featuring in Facsimile the Carolina Rice Cook Book. By Karen Hess. "The work breaks new ground with its presentation of the history and background of Carolina's rice cookery. It serves as a point of departure for further studies not only of Carolina rice cookery, but of the influence of African cooks on the food of the south." –Jessica Harris. 214 pages. Paper Š1992 $18.95

Cuisines of Portuguese Encounters. Recipes from Portugal, Madeira/Azores, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Săo Tome and Príncipe, Angola, Mozambique, Goa, Brazil, Malacca, East Timor, and Macao. By Cherie Y. Hamilton. "What a joy to have access to the marvelous foods generated by Portugal's 15th and 16th-C explosion into the worlds of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Southern oceans." -- Nach Waxman, Owner, Kitchen Arts & Letters. Hippocrene Books, Inc. NY. Š 2000. 378 pp. b/w photos/drawings. Hardcover. ISBN: 0-7818-0831-6. Stock # HP048. $24.95

Best of Regional African Cooking. By Harva Hachten. Take a culinary safari through the continent and taste over 240 recipes that deliver the unique and dramatic flavors of each region: North, East , West, Central and south Africa. This comprehensive treasury of African cuisine is adapted to the American Kitchen. Also includes a glossary of African terms and a list of substitutions.This is the new paperback edition to the classic 1970 originally published by Athenaeum. 274 pp. Š1998 $11.95 paper.

Taste of Eritrea: Recipes from one of Africa’s Most Interesting Little Countries By Olivia Warren Eritrea, a beautiful, small country in northeast Africa, won its independence from Ethiopia in 1991. The name Eritrea comes from an ancient Greek word for red. Eritrea’s cuisine includes fruits and vegetables brought by the Italians, chili peppers from the Turks, European-style beer from the British, a traditional bean stew from the Egyptians, and many staples from Ethiopian cuisine. Here are over 100 easy-to-follow recipes that will allow home chefs to bring a real "taste of Eritrea" to their tables.Hippocrene Books, Inc. Š 2000 139 pp.Hardcover $22.50

Tastes of North Africa: Recipes from Morocco to the Mediterranean By Sarah Woodward. Tastes of North Africa represents an exquisite melange of cultures, histories and ingredients. . Hippocrene Books, Inc. NY. Š 1999. 160 pages. Hardcover. Illustrated. Cholor photos. $27.50

What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking. By Abby Fisher with an introduction by Karen Hess. Mrs. Fisher, a former slave from Mobile, Alabama, began cooking for San Francisco society in the late 1870s. This is the oldest known African-American cookbook published in America. This collection of 160 authentic old Southern recipes was originally published in San Francisco in 1881. Applewood Books. 80 pp. Š1995 $8.95 Paper (Shipping $2.00 first copy $.50 each additional copy) See her recipe for Sweet Potato Pie.

Roberts' Guide for Butlers & Other Household Staff. By Robert Roberts. Published originally in 1827, this book was offered in order that servants be given a guide by which they could more efficiently perform the duties for which they could more efficiently perform the duties for which they were being paid. Roberts, an African-American, was for many years employed by Christopher Gore, governor and senator from Massachusetts. (1827/1993) 180 pp. $12.95 Paper

The Historical Cookbook of the American Negro. National Council of Negro Women, Inc. The classic yearlong celebration of black heritage from Emancipation Proclamation Breakfast Cake to Wandering Pilgrim's Stew. Foreword by Dorothy I. Height, Intro. by Anne L. Bower. Originally Compiled and Edited by Sue Bailey Thurman, Facsimile edition of the 1958 edition. Beacon Press, Boston. 2000. ISBN: 0-8070-0964-4. Hardcover. xxvii + 166 pages. Index. Stock # 000789. $20.00

The Lost Art of Scratch Cooking: Recipes From the Kitchen of Natha Adkins Parker. by Curtis Parker. The author defins "scratch cooking" as an art form that has been lost to some and in other cases is dying because people will not take the time to keep it alive. This book is dedicated to perpetuate an art that is steeped in tradition and good taste. Each recipe is followed by a favorite Bible verse of the author's Mom. "Mom would often read from the Bible and sing Hymns to assist her in preparing her meals and as an opportunity to thank God for His blessing of yet another day of food on the table. 93 pages. Private Printing. (Autographed), Š 1997, Paper, $11.00

Used or Out of Print Titles by African-Americans

Cusick, Heidi Haughy. Soul and Spice - African Cooking in the Americas. Chronicle Books, San Francisco. 1995. Paper.301 pages. ISBN: 0-8118-0419-4. Stock # 000912 $6.00

Grant, Rosamund. Caribbean and African Cookery. Grub Street, London. Hardcover. ISBN: 0-948817-13-5. 160 pages. Foreword by Maya Angelou. Excellent condition w dj. Stock # 000562. $20.00.

Harris, Jessica B. The Africa Cookbook: Tastes of A Continent. Simon & Schuster. New York. 1998. Hardcover. Excellent condition w dj. ISBN: 0-684-80275-9. Stock # 001107. $12.00

Harris, Jessica B. Iron Pots and Wooden Spoons - Africa's Gifts to New World Cooking. A Fireside Book Published by Simon & Schuster. Paper. 195 pages. ISBN: 0-684-85326-4. Excellent Condition. Stock # 000938. $9.00

Harris, Jessica B. Iron Pots and Wooden Spoons - Africa's Gifts to New World Cooking. Atheneum, New York. Hardcover. 195 pages. ISBN: 0-689-11872-4. Excellent Condition w dj. Stock # 000547. $14.00

Harris, Jessica B. Sky Juice and Flying Fish: Traditional Caribbean Cooking. A Fireside Book published by Simon & Schuster. New York. 1991. Paper. 242 pages. ISBN: 0-671-68165-6. Very good condition. Stock # 000323

Johnson-Coleman, Lorraine. Larissa's Bread Book -- Baking Bread & Telling Tales With Women of the American South. Rutledge Hill Press, Nashville, TN. Hardcover. ISBN: 1-55853-845-3. Excellent condition w dj. 245 pages. Illustrated. Stock # 000939 $16.00

Medearis, Angela Shelf. Ideas for Entertaining from the African-American Kitchen. A Dutton Book. New York. Hardcover. 307 pages. First Edition. 1997. ISBN: 0-525-94071-5. Very good condition w dj. Stock # 000731. $12.00

The National Council of Negro Women. The Black Family Reunion Cookbook. A Fireside Book Published by Simon & Schuster. NY. Paper. 212 pages.Stock # 000913 $6.00

Randall, Chef Joe & Toni Tipton-Martin. A Taste of Heritage: The New African-American Cuisine. New York: Macmillan. 1998. Hardcover. 334 pages. Excellent condition w dj. ISBN: 0-02-860382-6. Stock # 001106 $12.00

Shange, Ntozake. If I can Cook / You Know God Can Foreword by Vertamae Grosvenor. Acclaimed artist Ntozake Shange offers this delightfully eclectic tribute to black cuisine as a true food of life, one that reflects the tenacious spirit and powerful history of a people. Beacon Press, Boston. 1998. First Edition. 113 pages. Hardcover. Very good condition w dj $12.00

About Soul Food

Vertamae Smart Grosvenor, in her foreword to "The Soul of Southern Cooking" by Kathy Starr (Univ. Press of Mississippi, Jackson: 1989) said:

"If I had to define soul food, I would call it Southern food, a good-eating, creative, imaginative cookery, generous and earthy like the people who created it. I'm not talking about small slivers of skinned chicken breasts surrounded by miniature carrots and radishes cut like roses. I'm talking about something to eat. Like a pan of macaroni and cheese, made with real cheese! I'm talking about foods like a mess of mixed greens, fresh greens that you have to pick and clean, all kinds of cornmeal breds, sweet potato pie, pound and spice cakes, and gingerbreads. I'm talking about classic southern Fried chicken. One of the laments of today is that we have a generation of people who have never fixed or eaten real home-fried chicken."

Michael Franklin, the executive chef of Shark Bar restaurants in his interview in Chef magazine (November, 1997) said:

"The way I cook is a new-wave soul food or a new Southern cooking. I was brought up on this food. When someone says, 'That was better than my mother's' – that's what I am trying to do: I am trying to cook better than everybody's mother and everybody's grandmother, because then I will know [pauses] that I am the best. The best compliment is when someone says, "Yo, that tasted better than my mother's or grandmother's." That's the nicest reward."

Gastronomical Links

The Culinary Historians of Chicago will sponsor a national conference Grits, Greens and Everything in Between: The Foods of the African Diaspora and American Transformations, June 23 - 25, 2000, Chicago This is the first in a planned series of conferences on ethnic food history and culture, the Culinary Historians of Chicago, in cooperation with the Chicago Historical Society, is hosting. For additional information contact Marilyn Canna at mcanna@dpmadvert.com or call her at 312-935-5052 (W); 312-787-7309 (H).

Click on the Collards to visit a site that explores the role of food in the plays of August Wilson.

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