Award-winning playwright, novelist, and poet Ntozake Shange is author of many acclaimed books, including Liliane and Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo. She is associate professor of English at Prairie View A&M University and lives in Houston, Texas.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
With lyrical originality and musical patois, playwright, novelist, and poet Shange (Liliane: Resurrection of the Daughter, LJ 11/15/94) intertwines the history and food of the "African Diaspora" into a beautiful little book in the tradition of M.F.K. Fisher. This collection of essays?conversations might be more accurate?takes the reader to the tables of African Americans; the kitchens of Nicaragua, London, Barbados, and Brazil; and the feasts of Africa. Proud tradition plays an important role here, but don't overlook the book's value for the chef. Easy-to-follow recipes for "collards to bring you money," rack of lamb, hominy, feijoada, barbecue, gumbo, okra, and couscous are among the 34 exotic dishes, and most of the ingredients?except maybe turtle eggs?are readily available. Herein is also contained the coveted secret of determining a watermelon's ripeness! An inexpensive cookbook with a lot of class.?Wendy Miller, Lexington P.L., Ky.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Perhaps best known for her play . . . for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (1977), Shange in her new book interweaves recipes with memories in a generous banquet celebrating the cultural significance of certain foods. In recollecting places lived or visited, Shange questions the derivation and preparation of various comestibles, while observing the way traditions vary from state to state. Recalling impressions of countries such as Nicaragua, England, and Cuba, Shange paints a fervent, richly impassioned chronicle of African American experience, at the same time making note of political situations and discord among the peoples of these nations and recording how connections are made beyond issues of class or skin color. Recipes serve as savory, nourishing garnishes--at once enhancing and adding a qualified zest to Shange's potent commentaries. Alice Joyce
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More About the Author
Ntozake Shange, poet, novelist, playwright, and performer, wrote the Broadway-produced and Obie Award-winning For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf. She has also written numerous works of fiction, including Sassafras, Cypress and Indigo, Betsy Brown, and Liliane.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delicious!,
By yygsgsdrassil "yygsgsdrassil" (Crossroads America) - See all my reviews
This review is from: If I Can Cook/You Know God Can (Bluestreak Series) (Paperback)
Autobiographical and historical and cultural all rolled up in one. With the holidays coming up, these great stories and recipes of great african and african-american dishes--dishes from people and lands of color--would go perfectly with each serving of yams, blackeyed peas and rice and collards. Foods of defiance, comfort, strength. Presented by the superb Ntozake Shange. (For my two cents, all the schoolkids ought to be taught how really influential Ntozake was in black entertainment, period, not just literature. But that sounds like a discussion for another review.)
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Experience African-American experience through culinary hist,
By A Customer
This review is from: If I Can Cook, God Can (Hardcover)
I am not an African-American but through Shange's words I can feel the grief, the sorrow, and the triumphs of the African-American experience. By talking about food, which everybody needs and relates to, she paints a far more vivid picture of the African people in the Diaspora than a scholarly historian might. Many of her recipes call for ingredients I've hardly heard of, but her evocative descriptions of the food almost make me able to taste it.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cooking,
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This review is from: If I Can Cook/You Know God Can (Bluestreak Series) (Paperback)
I loved the book. Would recommend to family and friends.Carmen
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Can Cook, New World, Real People, Virtual Realities, More African Than Africans, Train of His Own, Better Late Than Never, United States, What'd You People Call That, Real Foods, South Africa, North America, New Year's Eve, West Indian Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Can Cook, New World, Real People, Virtual Realities, More African Than Africans, Train of His Own, Better Late Than Never, United States, What'd You People Call That, Real Foods, South Africa, North America, New Year's Eve, West Indian Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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