A great book that hits the soul of the south. The author ties in her story of rich southern heritage and recipes. This is one book you want to keep and use in your collection of cookbooks. I received a complimentary copy of this book, opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, by Crystal Wilkinson is a feast for the heart and the table. It's a beautiful tribute to the women who came before by sharing the comfort food they made. As long as you are remembered you will live forever. The recipes look delicious, and I'm looking forward to making Granny Christine's Jam Cake with caramel frosting. This book brought back wonderful memories of the women who came before me.

I love the mix of memoir and food writing in Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts. Crystal Wilkinson strikes the perfect balance between the two. I was born and raised in Alabama and have similar foods in my family line on my mom’s side, so there’s a strong emotional food connection. And, as a writer and spiritual director who explores themes connected to belonging and loneliness, I’m giving particular attention to how food has helped Wilkinson belong to herself, others, ghosts, and places.

This is a beautiful book. I love Wilkinson's writing and how she uses repetition and other poetic elements. Poets are my favorite prose writers. Always have been. Always will be.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review! Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts was a glorious book that included recipes and photographs to paint a colorful memoir. Wilkinson used her family history to educate readers about black Appalachia and shared anecdotes about the cuisine that kept them going. This book was a fascinating read, filled with mouth-watering recipes I can't wait to make. There isn't anything about this cookbook that I was not impressed by. I can't wait to purchase my copy and gift it to others!

Loved this book! The recipes are great and the addition of stories from the author made this book intriguing and fun to read. By the end of this book I felt very connected to the author and their family.

Thank you so much to this author, the publisher and netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this book.
This is so much more than a cookbook, this is a history lesson, a novel, a cookbook, and an emotional journey all wrapped in one! I fell in love with it! The history aspect isn't huge in your face it's there because you need to understand the true reality that was and still is this author, her families and so many others personal history impacted by the realities of history of their times, it sets the tone for why things were and are at the time. The novel and story is beautiful, heart wrenching and real it's not glossed over because this was her family, no it's raw, real and there and it makes you think of your family and generations past. The recipes were incredible, there was a huge variety of recipes that varied all across the board for anything you want to make and it's not very often where a cookbook has a huge variety of recipes I would love to actually make and there are so many in this book! I cried a couple of times with the memories this author helped invoke (not a bad way just kitchen ghost memories) and that is the mark of a great book. Everyone needs to read this book, this is so much more than a cookbook it is love and a hug in a book! Thank you so much to this incredible author for the opportunity to read this incredible book I really appreciate it!

This book was just lovely. I identified so much with the author's strong pull towards her ancestors, and how the very cells in her being are echoes of the strong women in time. I have ancestors in Casey Co, KY and have heard some of the stories of her African American ancestors. How very exciting to insight into the lives of women who put their heart and soul in nourishing the bodies with food. Awesome recipes! Highly recommend! #praisesongforthekitchenghosts #crystalwilkinson #netgalley #goodreads

What a beauty ❤️ I truly enjoyed flipping through this book. You can see the love filled in every page. I liked how there were family stories weaved between the recipes and the pictures were such a great touch. Very good cookbook! I’m making the greens recipe tonight!

This book is exceptional. Part cookbook, part history book, and part memoir, this book is a beautifully written tribute to the power that family and food have.

Crystal Wilkinson's "Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts" is a delectable journey through generations of Black Appalachian cooks, where recipes and stories intertwine to evoke a legacy of resilience, love, and soul-nourishing food. This is more than a cookbook; it's a poignant homage to heritage, passed down through flavors and memories, whispering tales of strength and survival.

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this ebook. Crystal Wilkinson takes us on a journey to the past through today. Sharing with us memories of cooking with her family and growing up with the knowledge that food is love. I wasn’t close with my grandmothers and they weren’t people who made delicious food. So the book didn’t resonate with me like it should have. But that’s just because of my family life. I’d never heard of many of the recipes that were made in Crystal’s book. But they sound interesting.

A great food memoir makes you feel like you're part of the family, like you've sat at the table and listened to their stories, maybe throwing in a few of your own. And Crustal Wilkinson definitely pulls that off with her fabulously rich and flavorful, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts, which gently reaches across time and distance and circumstances to share the memories of her family's kitchen ghosts. And, I love that phrase, btw. Like, Ms Wilkinson, I often feel the guiding presence of matriarchs when I'm cooking for the ones I love.

The narrative is conversational and wide-ranging, moving effortlessly from personal reflection to social history to family stories and back - and is done flawlessly. and then there are the recipes, woven into and yet, at the heart, of each section. Simple food that's rich with Appalachian history and meaning and, thanks to the narrative, all-important context.

Beautifully written and well-researched, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts hit all the right notes for me - as a memoir, as a recipe book, and as a commentary of family and history and the depth of roots. I'll be recommending this book to friends and family members.

Thanks to NetGalley for bringing Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts and Chrystal Wilkinson to my attention.

Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghost ties recipes, historical snippets, and traditions of an African American family’s history from slavery to the present.

As the author remembers and shares the past, she brings stories and dreams of how people of color survived times of famine and fullness through food, sharing the load and keeping the faith.

The recipes are a tribute and remembrance but at the same time bring to the present legacies from the past and how it impacts the author’s world and thoughts today.

The recipes and the reminiscing about the lives of her ancestors and how she provided for her own children resonates because people of color are still intertwining tradition with tribal remembrances.

This is more of a heirloom book full of stories, history accented by recipes that warm your heart. The book is from the heart honoring ancestors and their stories as well as the story of the family. The book provides a small look into the past for this family and all those before of us. Done wonderfully like you are hearing the stories of the family while enjoying a meal and being provided someone's history of the past and their steps towards the future. Like you are looking through a family album with a recipe book. Inspires me to write down the recipes and the stories of my past for future generations to understand where they come from so they know where they are going..

Thank you to the author for sharing the story and recipes, Netgalley and the publisher.

This book was really enjoyable and really well balanced. I loved the recipe and the stories! Recipes with history and connection have so much warmth to them.

What a gem! Wonderful histories, wonderful food, great research. I loved the ph0t0graphs and got so much out of reading this book.

This book is not really a cookbook but stories about the authors ancestors and growing up with food being the centerpiece for the family.
I really enjoyed the stories so much and it reminded me of times I had growing up.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts left me speechless. It is truly a love story told to honor the food, family, and culture that shaped author Crystal Wilkinson’s life. The book is full of stunning photographs, of both dishes created from the book’s recipes as well as the author’s family photos to accompany stories of generations of her Appalachian Kentucky family. In reading this book, not only did I learn about the history of black Appalachians, I also was greatly convinced of the importance of passing kitchen knowledge on from one generation to another, as much of what this book describes is becoming a lost art. I cannot think of a better way for Wilkinson to honor her ancestors than through lovingly crafting this book. I will definitely be purchasing a physical copy.

Thanks go to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

One of the most fascinating and educational cookbooks that I have had the pleasure of reading in years is a true gem in terms of old-fashioned, simple, but well-executed recipes, as well as a treasure-trove of historical information about Appalachian peoples of color. Documented with family genealogy, poignant anecdotes, and lovely photographs, former Kentucky Poet Laureate and O. Henry Prize-winning writer, Crystal Wilkinson’s, “Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks,” is a gastronomic feast for the eyes and stomach.

From fluffy scratch biscuits; to sizzling cast iron skillet cornbread; decadent Indian corn pudding; sinfully rich and buttery chess pie; and authentic burnt-sugar caramel icing (just like my great granny used to make)—these are just a smattering of the homey goodness readers will find in “Kitchen Ghosts.” There are also a few more recipes for exotic local mountain dishes—like sautéed Fiddlehead Ferns—that will make your special meal absolutely gourmet.

I’ve always considered Cookbooks great treasures of any society because they get to the heart and soul of the local culture almost better than other forms of anthropological research because eating is a primal necessity, and what people eat and how it’s prepared reflects not only on the availability of resources, but also the ancestral traditions of those combining ingredients to make a tasty meal for those they love. Crystal Wilkinson’s, “Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks,” is just such a culinary masterpiece.

JoyReaderGirl1 graciously thanks NetGalley, Author Crystal Wilkinson, and Publisher Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press for this advanced reader’s copy (ARC) for review.

The title pretty much says it all: Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks. Cookbook author and former Kentucky poet laureate Crystal Wilkinson has compiled recipes and stories from her ancestors, who lived in Indian Creek in Eastern Kentucky. Wilkinson’s family goes back in that area to 1808, when the slave-owning white Wilkinsons brought an enslaved 13-year-old girl with them from Virginia. That girl, Aggy, grew up to marry white Tarlton Wilkinson and became a freedwoman and bore him 10 children. She is also — among others — the inspiration for this cookbook.

Wilkinson weaves in some interesting family history, but — as with all cookbooks — the centerpiece are the recipes culled from her ancestors and extended family. The Appalachian cookery includes the expected, of course, such as Hot Milk Cake, chicken and dumplings, Chess Pie, Pine Lick Mutton Leg and Gravy, Pimento Cheese with a Kick, Classic Benedictine, corn pudding, blackberry jam, Grandma’s Blackberry Cobbler, skillet cornbread — unsweetened, as they like it in Kentucky. But Wilkinson throws in some surprises, as well: greens without bacon or ham, Sautéed Fiddleheads, fried plantains, Creamy Tomato Soup, Chicken Salad with Curry, Wild Berry Lemonade, The Dark Crystal Latte.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, Clarkson Potter Publishers and Ten Speed Press in exchange for an honest review.