I’ve got 3 wonderful resources today that have greatly influenced my thinking and recipes regarding their origins and paying respect to the people who have passed them on.
Did you ever wonder were some of those yummy recipes came from? I have and decided to do some research and was very surprised by what I learned…
I just finished reading the most enjoyable book by Michael Lee West untitled, Consuming Passion. The book is filled with hilarious family antidotes and recipes while growing up in the south. It got me to thinking about my cooking and how I can better share the history and origins of my creations since many are inherited from my southern family origins and my travels in Europe. This book is delightful and filled with great recipes that definitely we all have most likely tried at one time! Click here to check it out!
Excavating The South’s African American Food History (copy title and drop in your search engine)
Oh my, was I surprised with what I discovered in this article published in the African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter, written by Anne Yentsch entitle, Excavating the South’s African American Food History. This article definitely gave me a new perspective by showing the ingenious contributions of the enslaved Black people to what we call “southern cooking”. I strongly recommend this article if you’re interested in paying respect to those who have influenced your cooking over the years! Highlight the title and drop it in your search engine…it’s a PDF.
Along these lines, I have a friend, Cathy Marziali, that has started a blog page to give honor to her husbands’ Italian family recipes which have influenced her cooking. She’s working hard to re-create them and sharing snippets of family memories. It’s a delightful site called Daring Creatively
I'm Melinda Stevens and living the life of a beach bum was inevitable since my father was a lifeguard for the city of Los Angeles. My memories of growing up on John Street in Manhattan Beach, California were filled with joy, excitement and adventures; until my world, as I knew it, fell apart when we moved to Del Mar, California. My father was offered the position as Captain of the lifeguards and we started the slow migration to the small deserted stretch of beach in 1963. At twelve years old, this seemed like the end of my life. Remember, I’m writing with clear hindsight now, ok somewhat clearer… Little did I know this would be the beginning of a new journey and give a bit more clarity to many of the events that led me to this new cooking adventure.