Summer is full of reasons to celebrate - either for our personal victories of graduation or fatherhood but also on a more profound scale with federal holidays like Independence Day. In this new episode of As We Eat, Kim and Leigh explore how one author is not only bringing attention to the food traditions of Black celebrations like Juneteenth, but also challenging readers to look again at tradition.
Food & Celebration
For the month of June, we decided to focus on food and celebration, and to us there was no better choice than a relatively new title - "Watermelon & Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations” by James Beard-nominated food writer Nicole A. Taylor. It was the premise of this book that really caught Kim’s interest as it is the first broadly published cookbook to focus on the foods of Juneteenth. What we found is not only a collection of recipes, but a sincere effort to explore culinary traditions that connect food-centric celebrations to a rich heritage while also making room for those traditions to bend and accommodate change.
A Bridge Between Tradition and Culinary Evolution
In this space, Taylor aims to bridge the gap between traditional African American dishes and the evolving culinary landscape of the twenty-first century, encouraging readers to engage in conversations about Black American contributions to the country while celebrating their own cultural heritage.
While Taylor's own culinary journey began at a young age, she came into her celebration of Juneteenth as a young adult and it fueled her interest in documenting the DIY and urban food scene around her home in New York. Her debut book, "The Up South Cookbook," aimed to help home cooks recreate Southern cuisine in the North.
A critical element in Taylor’s approach is her theory that food belongs to everyone, not just professionals, and by capturing the cadence and culture of Black celebrations in her cookbook, we are offered a gateway to American history and Black American traditions. What we perceive as traditional may have evolved over time, and she invites readers to explore flavors, food, and techniques that may be either familiar or unknown, and in doing so foster discussions about how culinary traditions - especially Black food traditions - might evolve while remaining rooted in their origins.
Episode Transcript
🎧 Click here for the full, interactive transcript of this episode 🎧
Sources We Found Helpful for this Episode
Nicole A. Taylor's cookbook puts a spin on traditional African American food
Nicole A. Taylor's 'Watermelon & Red Birds' Is an Ode to Black Joy
Books We Think You’ll Enjoy Reading
The Up South Cookbook: Chasing Dixie in a Brooklyn Kitchen by Nicole A. Taylor
Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations by Nicole A. Taylor
Recipes You Really Need to Try
Nicole A. Taylor’s Recipe for Weekend Sweet Potato Hash @ The Splendid Table
Nicole A. Taylor's Black Pepper Strawberry Slab Pie @ Dash of Jazz
Nicole A. Taylor shares her Juneteenth recipes for Black celebrations @ Los Angeles Times
Episodes We Think You’ll Like
Episode 42: Red // Yellow // Green: the Multi-Colored Food Traditions of Juneteenth
Episode 28: Fair Foods: Canned Goods, Corn Dogs, and Levitating Cakes
Join us in two weeks as Leigh shares her experience with two of the recipes from Watermelon & Redbirds.
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EP 63 Time to Eat: Food Traditions, Summer Celebrations, and Rethinking Red