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The Jemima Code

History buffs and foodies rejoice – The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks is an amazing resource. This book is not a cookbook, although it does reprint some recipes. Instead, this is an encyclopedia of about 150 cookbooks by Black authors. They are arranged chronologically, from The House Servant’s Directory (by Robert Roberts, 1827) to Jerk: Barbeque from Jamaica (by Helen Willinsky, 1990).

Each cookbook is listed with a lengthy description of its context and its contents. The introduction to the book, and introductions to each chapter, place the cookbooks in the social and racial context of the years in which they were written and show how cookbooks give us a glimpse into the daily lives of people in the past as well as the accomplishments of black cooks and chefs, the diversity of Black cooking, and the racism prevalent in the industry. The covers alone are an education, each reprinted in color. My favorite title is My Mother Cooked Her Way Through Harvard with These Creole Recipes (1972). More recent cookbooks (1991 – 2009) are given a brief listing with title, author, publisher, and date of publication.

This is definitely a book that will appeal to a niche audience, but I believe anyone interested in history, especially the history of African Americans, the history of food, and domestic history, will find this book to be invaluable. This book is a joy whether discussing church cookbooks, self-published cookbooks or professionally produced, polished cookbooks.At times it’s infuriating, at times it’s inspiring, but it’s always deeply respectful and affectionate towards Black cooks in America, so many of whom have gone unrecognized.

– Carrie S

Women of African descent have contributed to America’s food culture for centuries, but their rich and varied involvement is still overshadowed by the demeaning stereotype of an illiterate “Aunt Jemima” who cooked mostly by natural instinct. To discover the true role of black women in the creation of American, and especially southern, cuisine, Toni Tipton-Martin has spent years amassing one of the world’s largest private collections of cookbooks published by African American authors, looking for evidence of their impact on American food, families, and communities and for ways we might use that knowledge to inspire community wellness of every kind.

The Jemima Code presents more than 150 black cookbooks that range from a rare 1827 house servant’s manual, the first book published by an African American in the trade, to modern classics by authors such as Edna Lewis and Vertamae Grosvenor. The books are arranged chronologically and illustrated with photos of their covers; many also display selected interior pages, including recipes. Tipton-Martin provides notes on the authors and their contributions and the significance of each book, while her chapter introductions summarize the cultural history reflected in the books that follow. These cookbooks offer firsthand evidence that African Americans cooked creative masterpieces from meager provisions, educated young chefs, operated food businesses, and nourished the African American community through the long struggle for human rights. The Jemima Code transforms America’s most maligned kitchen servant into an inspirational and powerful model of culinary wisdom and cultural authority.