Cookbook author Harris (The Africa Cookbook, 1998) tells the story of the African diaspora through food, from the foodstuff brought along with African slaves to barely maintain them on the Middle Passage to the undeniable imprint of African American cuisine on southern American and Caribbean food. She traces African foods (yams, okra, black-eyed peas, corn), flavoring, cooking methods, and food rituals from the abduction of Africans and enslavement in the Americas to travel throughout the American and European continents, recounting tribulations and joy. Along the way, she profiles famous and obscure but gifted cooks; cooks in the big houses of slave plantations; “Pig Foot” Mary, who grew wealthy from sales of food she cooked on a stove mounted on a baby carriage; chefs who served meals to presidents; and members of a cooperative of black hoteliers in Philadelphia in the nineteenth century. Along with historical context, Harris offers recollections from her own travels and ends with selected recipes.
ABOUT THE GUEST: Jessica B. Harris is a a best-selling author. Her works have appeared in Esquire, Gournet, Food & Wine, Cooking Light & Eating Well. She is a contributor to food websites zesterdaily.com and Saveur. She is a professor of English in NYC and scholar-in-residence in the Ray Charles Chair in African-American Culture, at Dillard University in New Orleans. She was recently inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverages in America. She lives in New York, New Orleans and Martha’s Vineyard.
WEBSITE: http://Africooks.com
BOOK INFO: High on the Hog, A Culinary Tour from Africa to America/Jessica B. Harris/Bloomsbury USA/ISBN-13: 9781596913950
At: http://conversationsontheroad.podbus.com/?p=557
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