Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts

November 1, 2023
Winner of a 2022 NAACP Image Award for her poetry book, Perfect Black (2021), Wilkinson here illuminates her foremothers through the narratives and recipes of five generations of Black cooks based in the Appalachian hills of Casey County, Kentucky. ""The concept of the kitchen ghosts came to me years ago when I realized that my ancestors are always with me and that the women are most present while I'm chopping or stirring or standing at the stove."" Among recipes for Granny Christine's jam cake, chicken and dumplings, dressed eggs, and hearty sandwich bread, and photographs of Wilkinson family gatherings, readers may be reminded of their own family stories. Wilkinson folds in memories, lessons, and food wisdom too, such as the medicinal qualities of herbs. This crucial record of oral histories that might otherwise have been lost offers nostalgia for a time when family and community were much closer, and foodways passed down from generation to generation. Wilkinson's combination of family history and cooking makes this easily recommendable to all kinds of readers.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 15, 2023
A celebration of Black Appalachian cuisine and folkways. "People are always surprised that Black people reside in the hills of Appalachia," writes Wilkinson, former poet laureate of Kentucky. Indeed, she adds, Appalachia is widely thought of as the domain of Scots-Irish immigrants who "were mostly poor and therefore couldn't own slaves"--a view that's incorrect in several dimensions. Following emancipation, some Black Appalachians took up industrial work, but most remained smallholder farmers. While no strangers to scarcity, the author's family had access to the wild game and plants of the mountains and the abundant fruit trees and berry bushes that grew around their homes. From the rusty metal recipe box that she calls "my finest family heirloom," Wilkinson "conjures up the kitchen ghosts of my rural homeland." That recipe box serves as an inspiration and gentle guide, but its recipes aren't heavy on ironclad, inviolable instructions. Writing about cooked greens, Wilkinson notes that while they so often tend to be boiled down to mushiness, she prefers some crispness to them--as do many aficionados of traditional Southern cuisine. There was even a time, she allows, when she decided that she was going to be a vegetarian and thus rejected the pork-laced greens and casseroles from her grandmother's kitchen. "A little bit of meat ain't gonna hurt you," her bewildered grandmother urged. It took decades for pork to return to the author's table, however--and now that it has, readers will want to rush to cook her husband's recipe for pulled pork ("he's the meat man"). Other highlights include a tasty plate of pinto beans, a perfectly delicate angel food cake, green beans with new potatoes, plus chicken and dumplings and "a mess o' greens"--the list goes on, a font of inspiration. A pleasing, succulent mix of storytelling and mouthwatering recipes.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from December 1, 2023

With this deeply personal cookbook/memoir, Wilkinson (Perfect Black), former poet laureate of Kentucky, welcomes readers into her kitchen to share the culinary legacy passed down through five generations of Black Appalachians. Via family lore and archival photographs, she tells the story of not only her relatives but also a foodway that is often overlooked. Lyrical prose swaddles bundles of recipes, relating the regional importance of cornbread, sorghum, and blackberries, among other ingredients. Recipes cover a wide swath of eras and flavors: there are classics like chicken and dumplings, lost standards like benedictine (cucumber spread), and family favorites like Granny Christine's jam cake. Wilkinson has modernized some dishes so that they're more practical to make today, giving the book versatility. After taking this journey with Wilkinson, home cooks will rush to their kitchens to try her recipes but will also be inspired to dig out their own family's stained and worn recipe cards. VERDICT Cookbook readers will delight in the beautiful exploration of ancestry, homeland, and food that Wilkinson weaves and relish bringing these foodways of Black Appalachians into their own homes.--Sarah Tansley

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.