For the Love of Good Food Books

I’ve always been a voracious reader. In second grade I was reading so well I didn’t have to attend reading classes and, instead, was sent to the school library to read whatever I wanted. In the summer, my mother was constantly reminding me to “Get your nose out of that book and go outside and play.” Even today, my house is “decorated” in books, with shelves lining most of the walls. My library card is well-worn.

I read to relax (culinary mysteries are my vice). I read to keep up (as the stacks of other Edibles and food magazines balanced precariously in my office attest.) I read for my book club (often volumes I wouldn’t have chosen myself but have come to appreciate). And I read to understand and expand my universe.

Toni Tipton-Martin’s new Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African-American Cooking cookbook and her previous Jemimah Papers fall into that latter category. I ignorantly opened Jubilee expecting to see soul food recipes and Southern cooking. Instead, I found the cooking of America, including dishes that would have been at home on my Midwestern grandmother’s table. And that is how it should be.

P.S. Tipton-Martin will be presenting and signing books at the Tucson Festival of Books on Sunday, March 15. The festival features cookbook authors on the culinary stage over the weekend including Bricia Lopez signing Oaxaca: Home Cooking from the Heart of Mexico on Saturday.