Reddit Reddit reviews The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South

We found 2 Reddit comments about The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Cookbooks, Food & Wine
Books
Cooking Education & Reference
Gastronomy Essays
The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South
Amistad Press
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2 Reddit comments about The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South:

u/thebigbluebug · 9 pointsr/Cooking

This might be nitpicky, but neither of the Wiki maps in the articles you linked cover Ethiopia / Eritrea, which have a distinctive and comparatively well-known in the West culinary tradition. I feel like this problem has more to do with the lack of Western interest in the nuances of sub-Saharan African culture and cuisine rather then a lack of the existence thereof. For example, I can think of interesting and unique dishes originating from Uganda (Luwombo), Nigeria (Suya), and South Africa, both indigenous (the braai tradition) and Afrikaner (Cape Dutch cuisine; the bobotie). This is entirely setting aside the French ex-colonies, which have interesting culinary traditions of their own with a different cultural genealogy.

I'd second the recommendation someone else made to take a look at Black American Southern food, as that has a lot of sub-Saharan influence; I'd also point you specifically to Michael Twitty's book The Cooking Gene, which isn't a cookbook but spends the bulk of its pages reckoning with the specter of African diaspora in Southern cooking. I'd also suspect there are at least a handful of Francophone cookbooks concerning the cuisines of the ex-colonies that might be worth looking at, if you know French or you know someone who does. I'd just be careful not to expect a huge comprehensive book of all non-Arab African cuisine, for a lot of reasons that I can go into if you'd like but might be a little too in-the-weeds for here.

u/gdhhorn · 3 pointsr/Blackfellas

Good time as any to plug The Cooking Gene, by Michael W. Twitty. This is basically his life's work.