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The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks Hardcover – September 20, 2015

4.5 out of 5 stars 522

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Winner, James Beard Foundation Book Award, 2016
Art of Eating Prize, 2015
BCALA Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Citation, Black Caucus of the American Library Association, 2016

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.

The Jemima Code presents more than 150 black cookbooks that range from a rare 1827 house servant’s manual, the first book published by an African American in the trade, to modern classics by authors such as Edna Lewis and Vertamae Grosvenor. The books are arranged chronologically and illustrated with photos of their covers; many also display selected interior pages, including recipes. Tipton-Martin provides notes on the authors and their contributions and the significance of each book, while her chapter introductions summarize the cultural history reflected in the books that follow. These cookbooks offer firsthand evidence that African Americans cooked creative masterpieces from meager provisions, educated young chefs, operated food businesses, and nourished the African American community through the long struggle for human rights. The Jemima Code transforms America’s most maligned kitchen servant into an inspirational and powerful model of culinary wisdom and cultural authority.


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Editorial Reviews

Review

The Jemima Code is no ordinary book. It’s a heaping helping, a long overdue acknowledgment of African-Americans who have toiled in this field since the country’s beginnings. With eloquence and urgency, Tipton-Martin makes the case that without the people of the African diaspora not only would America’s food be different, so would its culinary conversation. ― The New York Times Book Review Published On: 2015-12-06

[
The Jemima Code is] that rare coffee table book that serves up important history and compelling imagery in digestible, bite-size chunks that still stick to your ribs. -- Michel Martin ― NPR's Best Books of 2015 Published On: 2015-12-08

A beautiful and essential corrective to the ongoing erasure of generations of black American culinaria and its indelible influence on American cuisine writ large. ―
The New Yorker, "The Best Cookbooks of the Century So Far" Published On: 2019-07-14

Toni has gleaned a complicated and nuanced story of African American accomplishment. By gathering African American cookbook writers under one set of covers, Toni has framed their labor, their vision, their worldview. ―
Gravy Published On: 2015-01-29

If you want to know the truth about the complicated icon on pancake boxes, please check out
The Jemima Code . . . Tipton-Martin asserts Black women's true contribution to fine food. ― ESSENCE Published On: 2015-08-23

An appetizing new book, bursting with illustrations, how-tos, jingles, and rare archival photographs. ―
Mother Jones Published On: 2015-09-15

The cookbooks featured in
The Jemima Code exemplify a richness and diversity of African-American cooking and food knowledge far beyond traditional “soul” food . . . [they] help illustrate the sophistication and expertise that African-American women brought to the kitchens in which they worked. ― Women in the World, New York Times Published On: 2015-09-23

Tipton-Martin presents a new look at the influence of black chefs and their recipes on American food culture. Her goals are two-fold: to expand the broader community’s perception of African-American culinary traditions and to inspire African Americans to embrace their culinary history. ―
Smithsonian Magazine Published On: 2015-09-16

Toni Tipton-Martin does a great job of setting the record straight with her book
The Jemima Code . . . she classifies, introduces, explains, and puts into context many African-American cookbooks from the last hundred and fifty years or so, often illustrating the text with images and pages from the original works she discusses. She not only offers her own interpretations, but also allows readers to get a sense of the language, the style, as well as the visual and material worlds that the African-American authors of the past inhabited. Above all, Tipton-Martin demonstrates how these men and women were not victims, but expressed their own personality and agency in their work, striving to be accomplished cooks or maître d's. ― Huffington Post Published On: 2015-09-14

By illuminating the past, food activist and author Toni Tipton-Martin is reframing the future. In her new book,
The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks (the University of Texas Press), Tipton-Martin gives voice to the African Americans who worked in kitchens throughout the United States, revealing the wisdom, artistry, and values that characterize their role in culinary history. ― Texas Highways Published On: 2015-09-01

Many of these books haven’t much been seen outside of the state where they were published, or in the years since they appeared, let alone in each other’s company. Tipton-Martin’s affectionate compilation presents an unprecedented opportunity to track the evolution of black cooking in America. ―
The Charleston Post and Courier Published On: 2015-10-01

The Jemima Code is more than a book about books. Through chapters with titles like "Surviving Mammyism," "Lifting as We Climb," "Soul Food" and "Sweet to the Soul," Tipton-Martin uses the cookbooks to tell a story of race and identity in the U.S. ― The Chicago Tribune Published On: 2015-10-29

An entertaining and informative survey of black culinary arts through the ages and a commentary on how slavery and servitude shaped its evolution. ―
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published On: 2015-12-01

As a retrospective, the book’s succinct overview of a very wide topic makes it a fantastic reference manual. ―
Fast Company Published On: 2016-02-02

Austin, Texas, journalist Toni Tipton-Martin’s African American cookbook compilation,
The Jemima Code, released last September, is proof that its author is one of today’s smartest thinkers on food and culture. ― Garden & Gun's Southern Hot List Published On: 2016-02-01

One of the most essential, beautiful, powerful food books of our era. -- Helen Rosner, Executive Editor ―
Eater

If you are a food lover, add James Beard award winner
The Jemima Code, from journalist and food historian Toni Tipton Martin, to your reading list. It is a great compilation of 200 years of African-American cookbooks and the invisible cooks who have produced them. Food bears hidden gems about history and culture in America and beyond. ― NBCNews.com Published On: 2017-01-30

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Tipton-Martin's 2015 book,
The Jemima Code, changed the world: it smashed stereotypes and revived scores of Black recipes that had been systematically co-opted and erased. ― Esquire Published On: 2020-06-17

About the Author

Toni Tipton-Martin is a culinary journalist and author of several books, including Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking. She was the first African American food editor of a major daily newspaper—the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Her collection of more than three hundred African American cookbooks was exhibited at the James Beard House and she was recognized twice by First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House for her community service work. Tipton-Martin is a cofounder and former president of both the Southern Foodways Alliance and Foodways Texas. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Texas Press (September 20, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 264 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0292745486
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0292745483
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.12 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9 x 1.1 x 11 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 522

About the author

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Toni Tipton-Martin
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Toni Tipton-Martin is a culinary journalist, author and community activist who has dedicated her career to building a healthier community. She is the author of the James Beard Award-winning The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks, a book that celebrates the important legacy of African American cooks and their cookbooks and the forthcoming Jubilee: Recipes From Two Centuries of African American Cooking. She is the winner of a the 2015 Art of Eating Prize and the recipient of the 2015 Certificate of Outstanding Contribution to Publishing from the Black Caucus of the Library Association. She founded a 501c3 nonprofit organization that promotes the connection between cultural heritage, cooking and health. Toni has appeared as a guest judge on Bravo’s Top Chef, was profiled on CBS Sunday Morning's annual Holiday Show, on the Cooking Channel, and in the 35th Annual 2016 Aetna African American History Calendar. First Lady Michelle Obama invited Toni to the White House — twice.

Toni was the first African American Food Editor of a major daily newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the nutrition writer for the Los Angeles Times, and a contributing editor to Heart and Soul Magazine. She supports the food industry through service on several professional boards as a member of the James Beard Awards Committee and as a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance and Foodways Texas. She also is on the Advisory Board for Oldways’ African Heritage Diet Pyramid.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
522 global ratings
Cooking History - from the skillet to the table
5 Stars
Cooking History - from the skillet to the table
This book is so much more than I imagined. As I was reading I thought of all the past cooks of my family.I wanted to talk to them and ask questions about their start in cooking - what was it like to cook in someone's home.Reading further I got a sense of the root of my professional cooking talents and my deep passion for cooking for othersand the enjoyment of seeing people enjoying good food. While this book is too large to fit in a Christmas stocking, it wouldbe a great gift for anyone who is interested in the history of America -- from the skillet to the table - African American Culinary History.
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2024
This book is great!!! If you're looking to learn about or reconnect to African and African American cookery, techniques, and traditions from back in the day, this is the book for you! I've learned so much!!
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2023
I was expecting a full cookbook but the stories were very intriguing and very fulfilling and very knowledgeable and it added to the beauty of the book thank you for sharing
One person found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2019
1. I love cookbooks, kitch, and the evolution of Betty Crocker, Aunt Jemima, refrigerators, microwaves, appliances, kitchen colors, you get it.
2. How the above-mentioned items reflect our evolving cultural milieu is amazing.
3. I wasn't certain where this book was going when I purchased it but it delights me.

Through pictures, recipes, and narrative the author explains the blending of cultures to create a large portion of our uniquely American menu. Tipton-Martin draws similarities between slave kitchen cooks and the mistress of the house (Afro-European) and the lack of black authored cookbooks. I'm not done with the book yet - I'm taking my time because every page is a pleasure. I can't lend you my copy of the book because I'm keeping mine. You have to read about Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben...
26 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2017
The Jemima Code when I tell you I have been waiting to buy this book for at least 2 years it's the truth. But once I got it I was disappointed because there were no recipes in it. So I put in for a refund and the day I was about to send it back I felt like I should at least look through it again. So I flipped through the pages one more time and I was suprise as to what I found out. The book is a great reference and a foundation of the pride, committment, and love that these famous cooks put into the soul of their food. They made exceptionally good food with less resources than we have today. I absolutely love it and I am happy that my better judgement led me to look through the book one more time before sending it back. This is a wonderful purchase and I would recommend it to anyone that is a true cook.
95 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2020
More a history of Africa American cooks and early cookbook writers. Especially during 1960's n 70's.
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2021
This item is far more than a cookbook. It's a beautiful journey through Black history. Stories, pictures, and fact filled narrative woven throughout the book and recipes provide insight into a rich spiritual culture. I've almost finished reading the book and have not cooked a single dish yet.
I did not care much for the use of some descriptive words used in this book. I find the words to be racially derogatory. However, the author of this book used these terms for the book so I respect the work done and continue to read it for the culture and history.
4 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2015
The documentation of this history is wonderful work by the author. I was however disappointed that there were so few recipes included. I was looking forward to taking a great journey in front of my stove. They need to clarify that this is not a cook book in any form or fashion. I purchased it after hearing the author doing an interview, and It just didn't live up to the impression that I had formed.
26 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2015
Toni Tipton-Martin's book fills a tremendous hole in American culinary history. I would venture that few people know the extent to which African Americans have written and published cookbooks. I was certainly surprised to find out how early in the 1800s books were published as well as the number and variety of cookbooks that have been printed since that time. Many of this books remain a mystery because they are long out-of-print and oft-ignored by the mainstream publishers and press. When possible, and most importantly, Martin provides the author's biography, the backstory of their culinary experience and the social context surrounding the book's publishing. This is vital resource and a great read for anyone interested in getting a fuller picture and more nuanced understanding of American cuisine. If you're the type of person who loves to "read" cookbooks . . . this one's for you!
33 people found this helpful
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