Sweet Home Café Cookbook: A Celebration of African American Cooking

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ISBN 13: 1588346404
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Product Description

A celebration of African American cooking with 109 recipes from the National Museum of African American History and Culture's Sweet Home Café

Since the 2016 opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, its Sweet Home Café has become a destination in its own right. Showcasing African American contributions to American cuisine, the café offers favorite dishes made with locally sourced ingredients, adding modern flavors and contemporary twists on classics. Now both readers and home cooks can partake of the café's bounty: drawing upon traditions of family and fellowship strengthened by shared meals, Sweet Home Café Cookbook celebrates African American cooking through recipes served by the café itself and dishes inspired by foods from African American culture.

With 109 recipes, the sumptuous Sweet Home Café Cookbook takes readers on a deliciously unique journey. Presented here are the salads, sides, soups, snacks, sauces, main dishes, breads, and sweets that emerged in America as African, Caribbean, and European influences blended together. Featured recipes include Pea Tendril Salad, Fried Green Tomatoes, Hoppin' John, Sénégalaise Peanut Soup, Maryland Crab Cakes, Jamaican Grilled Jerk Chicken, Shrimp & Grits, Fried Chicken and Waffles, Pan Roasted Rainbow Trout, Hickory Smoked Pork Shoulder, Chow Chow, Banana Pudding, Chocolate Chess Pie, and many others. More than a collection of inviting recipes, this book illustrates the pivotal--and often overlooked--role that African Americans have played in creating and re-creating American foodways. Offering a deliciously new perspective on African American food and culinary culture, Sweet Home Café Cookbook is an absolute must-have.

Author Information

National Museum of African American History and Culture, Jessica B. Harris, Albert Lukas, and Jerome Grant
Among the many treasures at the NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE, which opened in September 2016, is its Sweet Home Café. Developed in thoughtful collaboration with Restaurant Associates, which focuses on creating extraordinary dining experiences in cultural institutions, the café showcases the rich culture and history of the African American people with traditional, authentic offerings as well as up-to-date dishes. JESSICA B. HARRIS is an award-winning culinary historian, author, and journalist and served as advisor to the museum as it developed the café. She is the author of twelve cookbooks, including High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America. Supervising Chef ALBERT LUKAS crafted the innovative and highly acclaimed café menu, which ties together food history, heritage ingredient sourcing, and modern tastes. Executive Chef JEROME GRANT oversees the café and develops inventive special meals for holiday and seasonal celebrations.

Review Quotes

One of the Best Cookbooks Coming Out in Fall 2018
—Food & Wine
Befitting a cookbook produced by a museum, every recipe is carefully categorized by geographic origins, and a paragraph illuminates how each dish fits specifically within African-American cuisine’s diverse history and origins.
—Booklist - Starred Review
Lukas, supervising chef of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture’s café, and Harris (The Martha’s Vineyard Table) present the museum café’s recipes in this fascinating cookbook. In these refined café dishes, Lukas and Harris deliver a delicious food history lesson for home cooks.
—Publishers Weekly
Collectively, [the recipes] showcase the influence of African American cooking on the nation’s foodways.
—Library Journal
The recipes and stories in Sweet Home Café Cookbook are a wonderful and delicious way to bring history to life. This is a handbook for the culture that shaped American cuisine—cook it, treasure it, and celebrate it at your own table.
—Carla Hall, Chef, Author
Sweet Home Café Cookbook is a heartwarming guided tour through African American culinary history that sparkles with all the fervor, dedication, and innovation of the Café itself. It is a new necessary favorite for my kitchen.
—Michael W. Twitty, author of The Cooking Gene
This book is a celebration of—and an education in—the cuisine that helped forge the culture of this country. Delving into the history of dishes rooted in Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe, Sweet Home Café Cookbook sheds much-needed light on the unique and critical role African Americans played in shaping the way we eat today.
—Marcus Samuelsson, chef and co-owner of Red Rooster Harlem

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