Unfortunately I was unable to download this book (which was sad as I really wanted to read it. It sounds like my kind of book as I love reading, cooking and family stories. Oh well!

This is an important book. The Jemima Code ought to be in all relevant food history courses and also be required reading at American culinary institutes. It's worth reading just for the forewords by John Egerton and Barbara Haber and Tipton-Martin's introduction.

The Jemima Code is not at all a cookbook, but is rather a survey and individual critique of a collection of them. Still, I did pull a few recipes from the illustrations, including one for a spicy chocolate cake that I will try without much delay. And upon finishing The Jemima Code, I immediately looked up Toni Tipton-Martin's Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking and look forward to trying some of its 125 recipes.

I should have read the reviews on this one before accepting a Netgalley copy. While interesting history on cookbooks written by African American I was more interested in recipes written during this era. A ton of cookbooks are edited these days for low fat, low calorie...Sometimes you want the old fashioned way. While the author sure is passionate about what she speaks, and this is quite a cultural lesson they don’t teach in schools, I’m a bit disappointed that Aunt Jemima was fictitious. I’m disappointed that the brand is being silenced. Four stars of history here.

This is a great anthology for anyone interested in African-American cooking! Just keep in mind that this is not cookbook; however, it is very educational!

Was excited to check out this book by Toni Tipton-Martin because of Jubilee, and after hearing about it through one of Deb Perelman's recommended book lists. The Jemima Code was brilliant. The comprehensive collection of vintage cookbooks by African-American chefs that she shares here is massive and vital. She lends a voice and exposure to their work, which deeply deserves to be seen and known because it has shaped so much of our food heritage and was silenced. Her book challenges this "Aunt Jemima" stereotype and talks about its history.
I love old books, and found the scanned photographs from the 1800s/1900s so interesting here. Books, such as the 1827 manual called "the House Servants Directory", which she notes is the first trade published book by an African-American ever. She shares and gives context to each book in regards to Southern history and its place in the food landscape. This book is unique and extremely important to read for pretty much everyone.

The Jemima Code is an interesting book that looks at the history of two centuries of African American cookbooks. . It gives the reader a thorough picture of the evolution of African American cooks from the very beginning of recorded documents. Showing how slavery and other historical events changed and molded the cookbooks of the community. I found it interesting looking at the different recipes that were used by cooks as well as the different time periods that were broken down into specific time periods that highlighted the struggles and triumphs of African American cooks.

Toni Tipton-Martin writes about mor than 150 black cookbooks, considered house servants manuals. Arranged chronologically. Lots of photos and recipes. Cultural history. A wonderful, fascinating book well worth reading.

This is SUCH an amazing compilation and history of African American culinary history. Read it on Juneteenth and I learned so much.

The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks by Toni Tipton-Martin is a master class in the contributions African American cooks have made to the culinary world , and it is a class I deeply enjoyed. The lasting takeaway was simple - what most of us think of as Southern food was, in fact, crafted by African American cooks in Southern kitchens.

This truth is brought home through the introduction and examination of a wonderful collection of over 150 cookbooks authored by African Americans from the 1800s through 2001. Each is carefully placed within a cultural, social and historical context, beginning with enslaved cooks and moving through caterers and paid domestic cooks to restauranteurs and modern day celebrity chefs. I got to know so many amazing cooks during the course of this book, and will definitely be checking out their cookbooks.

I should probably mention here that The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks really is NOT a cookbook. The only recipes included within its pages are photos taken from cookbooks written by African American cooks. It is, instead, a look at how Black faces have been systematically and intentionally removed from the history of American - and specifically Southern American - cooking, and a wonderful effort at giving credit where credit is due.

As a history book, there are some sections which get a bit academic, but overall, the topic is so fascinating and the storyline so tightly scoped, organized and written, that I was thoroughly engaged. This is a book I will be keeping on my shelf and using as a reference for my continued education on the role African American cooks have played in American foods. It is an education long overdue.

This review is based on an advance copy read.

A rich history of American cookbooks, and the contribution of African Americans. The first American cookbooks were written by white Americans using African American recipes. The Cookbooks originated in the South, and the slaves cooked for the whites. The contributions that African Americans made to the cookbooks weren't acknowledged. The book follows history of cookbooks in America from the beginning to the present. I really enjoyed reading this book. I never realized or thought about that authors/contributors. I collect antique cookbooks, and this has me appreciating them in a whole new light. I really appreciated the details describing the different contributions and how some things came to be. I think anyone who enjoys cookbooks and/or history will enjoy this book.

So much research went into this book. Toni Tipton-Martin shows us the skill, knowledge, and importance of black cooks that spans over centuries and gives them the credit that they deserve and that everyone should know about.

The Jemima Code is well researched, scholarly piece that remembers and venerates African American cooks of the last two hundred years. I didn't finish the book quite simply because I don't have the time. I would definitely like to purchase a hardcover version of this recipe. It's both a book you can set on a " night table" and pick up and read in quiet solitude and also a cookbook. If you are seeking a cookbook only - this is not the book for you. I am so pleased to receive a copy and will continue to recommend it and sell it to others.

Description
Women of African descent have contributed to America’s food culture for centuries, but their rich and varied involvement is still overshadowed by the demeaning stereotype of an illiterate “Aunt Jemima” who cooked mostly by natural instinct. To discover the true role of black women in the creation of American, and especially southern, cuisine, Toni Tipton-Martin has spent years amassing one of the world’s largest private collections of cookbooks published by African American authors, looking for evidence of their impact on American food, families, and communities and for ways we might use that knowledge to inspire community wellness of every kind.

My Review
This is a fantastic cookbook and an amazing collection of privately owned recipes. Thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

The concept is awesome, reading it with my current attention span was ok. That’s more on me than anything, I was expecting recipes / a different type of format.

Still important history threading through today and quite a feat of research.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Just loved everything about this book - there's such a rich history in the world of southern and African-American cooks, and it's painfully undertold. I've come back to this title several times since finishing it, and continue to recommend.

A fascinating, meticulously researched book that introduces 200 years of cookbooks created by African Americans. It is the sort of book to dip into many times. My only wish were that some recipes from the books had been included.

As long as you realize this book is a beautifully-researched project that covers historical trends of African-American cooking and cookbooks, you will not be disappointed!

(If you are looking for an actual cookbook with recipes, this book does not provide that.)

The author has spent SO much time locating cookbooks from the past 150 years, and she has spent SO much time researching African-American influence on cooking in America as well as a few other places in the world. She traces trends and sources of inspiration, and she provides relevant cultural and historical information.

The book is broken into different time periods, and you can see how each cookbook was influenced by its time.

I received a free ARC as a reviewer for NetGalley.

When I was little, my mom would take the bottle of Aunt Jemima syrup from the fridge (the one shaped like a human) and hide behind the fridge door and use the figure to talk to my brother to convince him to eat his pancakes. He believed she was real. At the time, I didn't realize just what that figure represented, my mother didn't either, it was just advertising and a staple bought from the store. But there's a whole history there, and one that represents both women and men who's contributions have gone unrecognized or works were stolen or brilliance overshadowed by stereotyping.

I first heard about this book on one of my favorite podcasts, Gravy, put on by the Southern Foodways Alliance. The episode was so interesting and informative that I knew I had to read the book. It seems to me that so often the history we learn in school is not the history we should be learning. That the dates of wars are not as important as the people in them.

Which brings us back to Jemima and the origination of the character. This book unlocks that code that was used to oppress and gives a history of African and Black American cooks and their contributions to cooking and cookbook making. Starting in the 1800's, the author explores by different time periods to show what publications were featuring these writers and cooks and how the general tone of the cookbooks changed over time. For each time period, she includes pictures (make sure you read this in a format that supports full-color pictures), recipes, and other information based on the cookbook collection she has amassed and provides a summary of that cookbook.

In general, the format of this book was well done. I liked the summaries of the different cookbooks and how they tied into the generation that was being described. The pictures helped provide nuance and some of the cover illustrations are really wonderful. My only complaint about the format is that the writing itself is in column-style, which I found more difficult to read than the conventional paragraph style.

This is definitely a book you don't want to read in one sitting. Like a cookbook, you want to meander, and explore the different time periods at leisure. Or maybe just flip through and look at the titles and pictures and go back to the reading later. However, you might enjoy. Each section starts out with some history of the time period as well, and I think those introductions helped provide useful context to the cookbooks that followed.

Interesting, intriguing, and it gave me a new appreciation for these cooks and the adversity they had when marketing and creating these works. This is history that should be examined and just as familiar as that famous bottle of syrup and pancake mix.

Review by M. Reynard 2020

The Jemima Code is a historical retrospective of African American culinary tradition throughout American history. Released in 2015 by the University of Texas Press, it's 264 pages and available in hardcover format.

This is a meticulously researched and indexed history of African American culinary culture as woven into the fabric of the United States in the form of published cookbooks written by black cooks. The author's respect and dignified treatment of the subject is clearly written into the text alongside the academically rigorous and well written prose.

The book is arranged in chronological order with facsimile pages, illustrations, and reprints. Although not a cookbook in any form, there are a number of full recipes included from older cookbooks (listed in bold print in the comprehensive index). The recipes are traditional, authentic, and inventive. Due to the nature of race history in the USA over the last centuries, there is a significant portion of the book which I found melancholy and I was deeply affected by the contained stories of generations of black cooks (usually women) working in an unbroken line down to the present day.

The book covers dozens and dozens of cookbooks. Each entry contains a picture of the original cookbook cover, often some historical publication information along with the concise and insightful commentary. There are some recipes included as facsimile pages from original texts, but they're not the main attraction. The commentary is unflinching and sometimes painful (for this white girl) to read.

There is little that is more culturally and emotionally relevant than our food traditions. This book provides an exhaustive and balanced look at a vital and unique (and large) part of American culinary history. This would be a valuable resource for related academic subjects such as gender studies, American history, black history, advertising, etc. Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Much more than a coffee table book, this book provides a unique illustrated history of two centuries of African American cuisine and of the broader culture in which each book came to be. The book is arranged in chronological sections; each section opens with a short introductory essay that provides an overview of the cultural backdrop against which the books were circulated or published. It traces the persistence of racial stereotypes and the moments of triumph over those stereotypes. After the introductory essay, the reader is treated to illustrations depicting the cookbook covers and select pages from between the covers. For each cookbook, there is also provided background information on the author(s), their contributions, and the significance of the book. Through the images, the author provides a firsthand look at the creativity, expertise, and ingenuity of African American cooks and their impact on a wide range of cuisines.