Im sorry to say I couldnt download this book. Tried every which way. I cant leave a review. Too had. It looks quite interesting.

This is the kind of book I could spend hours on. An interesting look at race and racial stereotypes through the historical analysis of African American cookbooks in different time periods. It shows har far we've come, and how far we have yet to go. How images and messages become ingrained in culture and have an enduring effect that even awareness doesn't completely erase.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It’s one thing to know intellectually that a system of oppression requires erasure of the oppressed, and another thing to try to understand how that erasure happens and glimpse the truth being hidden. When I read Michael Twitty’s The Cooking Gene, he referenced Toni Tipton-Martin’s The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks. It immediately went on my tbr. A few weeks ago I was browsing around on NetGalley and saw it there, though it was published in 2015. I snapped it up and have been reading it off and on for the last 5 weeks. This is an honest review.

Tipton-Martin is an award winning author, a culinary journalist who has written for the LA Times and was the Food Editor for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and a community activist. While working at the LA Times, she began to wonder where the black cooks were in the history of American foodways. She began collecting the evidence of African American cooks and butlers – cookbooks from the 1800’s to the present, many of which were self published. The cookbooks provide a record of knowledge and skill, defying the stereotypes and illuminating the connections Black cooks maintained despite systemic oppression.

In her introduction, Tipton-Martin talks about the importance of the record these cookbooks and household management book provide in the face of Aunt Jemima.

"Historically, the Jemima code was an arrangement of words and images synchronized to classify the character and life’s work of our nation’s black cooks as insignificant. The encoded message assumes that black chefs, cooks, and cookbook authors – by virtue of their race and gender – are simply born with good kitchen instincts; diminishes knowledge, skills, and abilities involved in their work, and portrays them as passive and ignorant laborers incapable of creative culinary artistry.

Throughout the twentieth century, the Aunt Jemima advertising trademark and the mythical mammy figure in southern literature provided a shorthand translation for a subtle message that went something like this: “If slaves can cook, you can too,” or “Buy this flour and you’ll cook with the same black magic that Jemima put into her pancakes.” In short: a sham."

Tipton-Martin puts the cookbooks in the context of the time in which they were published. As she moves into more contemporaneous times, we also see how the erasure of Black cooks and the importance of African American foodways is not confined to the distant past.

"Take Craig Claiborne, from Sunflower, Mississippi, for instance. In 1987, the the former New York Times food editor organized three hundred recipes from “many of the South’s best cooks,” including Paul Prudhomme and Bill Neal. Only one of them, Edna Lewis, was black. … But he blushes at never having heard of catfish in white sauce “until we experimented with it in my own kitchen, calling it, ‘an excellent Southern dish with French overtones.’” The free woman of color Malinda Russell called the dish Catfish Fricassee in her groundbreaking cookbook way back in 1866."

She isn’t accusing Claiborne of being a malignant racist, she’s illustrating the impact of centuries of erasure. Claiborne never considers how integral African American foodways are to Southern cooking, even though he definitely should have known better. You should always be suspect of any proclamations about Southern cuisine that don’t include Black chefs. This has also happened with the popularization of BBQ and the hip white pit masters. BBQ has deep African roots, and anyone who lauds only the Aaron Franklins of the world is promoting a white washed lie.

This is not a cookbook. It is a fascinating history. If you are interested primarily in recipes, Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African-American Cooking: A Cookbook will be released on November 5.

Really great book on the history of women behind so many of the recipes that have been published. I loved all the stories from the individual people.

This was really fascinating! I have always been really interested in the mammy stereotype and where this culture of cooking came from. This book was full of information like this! I don't think I gave it the time that I should have, so I would definitely like to visit this again.
#Jemimacode #Netgalley

I would love to give a great review for this book. But I couldn't open this, unfortunately. I would love to have known about the format requirements ahead of time.

The history, the recipes, the lives etc..an amazing cookbook an awesome book. Hands down the best cookbook I’ve ever read. The recipes are intriguing, and enlightening.

This book surprised me. Based on the title I thought it would be an expose on how Black women cooks are seen as Jemima's. Jemima is both loved and reviled in the Black community. This book, though it touched briefly on Jemima and her history, it was more of an encyclopedia of Black cookbooks. The rich history brought down through generations in dishes that hail from Africa to New York. The love and care that's represented in dishes cooked at home, mansions and even the White House. An astute addition to any library, I hope to procure several of the cookbooks for my personal collection.

What a treasure of a book!
This is a tribute to the unsung heroes of America and true shapers of what we know today.
This is not a cookbook but rather an anthology and review of cookbooks produced by African Americans in the United States.

This book is exceeding well written and provides a perspective I haven't seen elsewhere, despite reading a lot of food history, food memoir, food blogs, and food magazines. It's packed with historical information and insight, which at times can make it read more like a history or scholarly book, but the material is so interesting I didn't care.

This is a fascinating and well researched book that tells the history of cookbooks in America by African American cooks. It's a heavy read and took me a long time to get through, but it's extremely informative and is the only book of its kind that I know of. The author has done extensive research into these cookbooks and describes each one in chronological order, with a photograph or two of the cover or (perhaps) a recipe inside it. The reader sees how these authors were often forced to present themselves to appeal to the prejudices of the time. I was really hoping to get recipes from the books, but this is not a cookbook and recipes are few and far between. I was able to look up many of them online and read them through public domain sources, though, and I highly recommend doing that for some of the older books.

My rating system:
1 = hated it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase, and/or would buy it again if it was lost

I read a temporary digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.

Thank you for this exciting and extremely different book! I've never read anything like it! It is not only a recipe book but an analysis and description with actual real pictures of old recipe books (2 centuries' worth) by Black American cooks. It is lively, well written and fascinating. I highly recommend it!

This book was a wealth of information. Going in, I was expecting recipes and not a history lesson, and I was pleasantly surprised. The pictures in the book helped to bring context to the narratives in the story. What was surprising to me was the amount of information made available about this period, and the people who cultivated a style of cooking that had multiple influences. I would recommend and would purchase for culinary lovers in my family.

Passionately written and painstakingly researched over many years, The Jemima Code is a fascinating look into the rich history of African-American cookery. Author Toni shares with us some true cookbook gems from her vast collection, while illustrating each era they originated from with literary flair.

The recipes in excerpts from cookbooks peppered throughout the book are so interesting to read over, offering a clear indication of the depth of culinary knowledge and expertise that was accumulated by, and passed down by, black cooks all over America, as well as giving the opportunity to see the evolution and transformation of their cuisine over the decades.

A wonderful read for anyone with an interest in African-American cooking over the ages.

A wonderful read a cookbook with wonderful recipes a look at African American culture so well written wonderfully illustrated.A book that teaches history mixed in with delicious food.Highly recommend,#netgalley #uoftexaspress,

Having eluded my attention over the years, the author revealed some startling news concerning the world of cooking. Getting to the heart of the matter, the art of African American cooking evolved from its early beginnings in the Deep South. Many slaves blessed with talented culinary skills provided outstanding meals for their owners. Back in the day, a preposterous notion was born out of a robust stereotypical black woman. Portrayed as happy-go-lucky, she provided all of the needed nanny, housekeeping and cooking skills for the white slave owners. As the fantasy had grown, she had become to be affectionately known as Aunt Jemima.

Fortunately, misconceptions have greatly changed since those early days of ignorance. Ever so slowly, since the post-civil War era, recognition long overdue had been rightfully credited to many African-American cooks. The mold of the mythical Aunt Jemima had finally been shattered. Many African-Americans cooks and authors have now taken their acknowledged place among some of the best culinary chefs in America. Savory, award-winning secret recipes of yesterday grace the pages of this book. The time is at hand. I would recommend this cookbook to anyone wanting to take another look at some of the best dishes to satisfy our palates.

My gratitude is sent to NetGalley and University of Texas Press for this digital edition in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is a fasinating read regarding how the culture of food and salvery have developed. However having now finished the book i am craving the food mentioned so a few recipies that people can try may have been useful.

I have to say, I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting when I read this book, but it definitely took me by surprise, in a good way! This collection is poignant, moving and inspiring. I would recommend this book for foodies and history buffs alike!

There is more than one way to burn a book and there are plenty of people running around with matches.  ~Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451

Celebrating #BannedBookWeek as I take a look at The Jemima Code by Toni Tipton-Martin. While this book has not been "banned," the contents of the book have been questioned, hidden and lied about for centuries. As Bradbury states in the quote above, you don't have to literally ban or burn a book in order to suppress the information. That is exactly what has happened to African American cooks, chefs, Nannies and Mammies over the years.

In The Jemima Code - which is NOT a cookbook, by the way - Tipton-Martin has compiled and curated the stories, histories and covers of many lost African-American cookbooks. The books were "lost" to us for the simple fact that they are authored or written by or about African American cooks. It was long held as a "fact" that southern cooking came from the white homes in the southern part of the US. It was also believed that the African Americans who cooked in these homes were "uncreative" and merely copied the recipes that they were taught. Furthermore, we are told that these recipes are unhealthy, lead to obesity, and should not be replicated in today's "healthier" homes. Yeah, right.

I was raised in the south and love southern food. However, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that white southern women did none of their cooking well into the latter part of the 20th century. Our grandmothers, great aunts, great grandmothers had "help," if not outright slaves who did their cooking and cleaning for them. As a result, nearly all of the recipes that today are considered "southern" by cooks in the south, actually originated by African slaves and Creoles living in the south. Cornbread, fried fish, waffles, grits, black-eyed peas, "southern" fried chicken and biscuits - all were originated by African Americans. Furthermore, in order for white southerners to take credit for these recipes and fine cooking, they suppressed the cookbooks that these African American chefs had printed.

Interestingly, I was raised in Arkansas, home to Bill Clinton. While governor there, he boasted about the great food that was served at the Governor's Mansion. For years, it was assumed that the chef at the mansion was a world renown chef. It turns out that for nearly a half century the food was prepared by a marvelous chef name Eliza Ashley. She had cooked for presidents, the Rockefellers, dignitaries and movie stars but until the 1980s, she received no credit as being the chef behind the delectable food. The Jemima Code is filled with similar stories and it is tragic. To completely "white-wash" the contributions made by these cooks is egregious. Thanks to Tipton-Martin, we now are able to see just how pervasive this cover up was.

I highly recommend reading The Jemima Code for its historical contribution to our heritage. 

Thank you to @ToniTipton Martin, #Netgalley and the University of Texas Press for my copy of this fabulous book! And now I am off to put on a pot of black eyed peas and bake up a pan of cornbread. Yummy!

WOW! the extensive research and planning the author devoted to this one of a kind cookbook and historical example of African American cooking has resulted in one of the most comprehensive cooking manuals I've ever seen or had the pleasure of reading. Toni Tipton-Martin has put together so many differing examples of cultural cooking that it is hard to believe their history started in the same place. The Jemima Code is NOT a tribute to Aunt Jemima, it is a factual tribute to the contributions African American cooking has made to our current diets and traditions.