Cookbook of the Week: Soul Food Love
Yahoo Food’s Cookbook of the Week: Soul Food Love: Healthy Recipes Inspired by One Hundred Years of Cooking in a Black Family (Clarkson Potter, 2015), by Southern mother-daughter duo Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams. The two women explore four generations of cooking and eating in their African American family, sharing both the struggles and the joys involved in black cuisine, and reinventing classic dishes with a healthy spin.
Noteworthy: “Even if you know a lot about food history, this will take you into areas of the black kitchen that you don’t know,” said New York Times bestselling author Randall. The book details how the kitchen could be “difficult territory for black women,” but it also celebrates happy moments. “The struggle is real, but the joy is also real,” she said.
The Team: In addition to writing novels (The Wind Done Gone, Pushkin and the Queen of Spades, Rebel Yell, and Ada’s Rules), Randall teaches a course at Vanderbilt called “Soul Food, in Text, as Text,” and she’s the Nashville Ambassador for Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, which means she works to promote sustainable eating within the city’s schools and businesses. Her daughter, Caroline Randall Williams, developed the recipes for Soul Food Love. Williams is a published poet who is currently pursuing her MFA at the University of Mississippi. Senior contributing photographer to Saveur magazine Penny De Los Santos made everything look mouthwatering.
The Cuisine: Healthy soul food. Or healthier-than-we-know-it soul food. For one, mac and cheese and fried chicken—soul food as many think of it—are not historically everyday foods in black homes, Randall told us. This book celebrates the real everyday meals, and the forgotten, healthier soul food staples such as peanuts, sardines, sesame seeds, and fish. And let’s not forget vegetables! “Many plantations allowed slaves to have private home gardens. Vegetables have always been a big part of black cuisine.” Also, these women come from three generations of home cooks who weighed more than 200 pounds. This is why Williams set out to reinvent her family recipes: to hold onto their culture, but to maintain her health by replacing pork fats with vegetable oils, processed sugars with honey, and so on.
Who Should Buy It: Anyone interested in American food history. Anyone who loves soul food. Anyone who doesn’t know how to cook. “I want my friends to know how to roast a chicken and not be afraid to clean greens,” said Williams. “The kitchen shouldn’t be so mysterious.” And anyone who wants to cook and eat soul food while paying attention to health. “We want to make history and health on the plate a pleasure,” said Randall. “It’s about pleasure and joy, and it’s about honoring all of the women and men who have worked hard to provide food and emotional sustenance.”
Who Shouldn’t: People who want to recreate restaurant food. “These are home-cook recipes,” said Randall. “We go to restaurants and see fancy food and think our food has to look like that, but a meal can be homemade in your blender. A meal can be cottage cheese mixed with greens and egg whites for a breakfast casserole. We’ve forgotten some of that.” Bonus: Every recipe can be shopped for from a Walmart shelf, as pointed out in the book.
Must-Make Recipes: Bell pepper “Red Spread,” Poet’s Pot Pie, which is a vegetarian shepherd’s pie, Sweet Potato Skewers, and Breakfast Casserole.
Check out more of Yahoo Food’s favorite cookbooks:
A snapshot of Cuban food today
In Her Kitchen, recipes from grandmothers around the world
Rapper Angie Martinez’s quest to make Latin cooking healthier
