As you may know, from our newspaper columns and some posts here, we feed our dog Poppy homemade food. Her diet is raw because of the many issues a Westie can have with food. Judith Jones, on the other hand, cooked meals that she shared with her dog Mabon.
This book is a great place to begin a discussion about what we're feeding our dogs and if we have fallen for the marketing efforts of the dog food industry. Jones worked with her veterinarian who supported this alternative feeding style.
Here are a few quotes from reviews of this delightful book:
“Delightful….This sensible book reminded us of food writers like Elizabeth David and M. F. K. Fisher: recipes plus a pinch of life itself.” – The Bark
“Clever tips abound.” – BookPage
“As much about the unconditional friendship pets offer as it is about braised beef shanks and omelets, kasha and corn cakes, and as much about the nutritional requirements of caninehood…as about the companionable requirements….A loving salute to the dogs [Jones] has known and to a life filled to the brim with what they brought to her.” – Booklist
“An ingenious recipe collection…What’s fascinating about Love Me, Feed Me is that the recipes are relatively simple and good, prepared daily by Jones for herself and her dog Mabon, an adorable white curly-haired Havanese straight out of central casting.” – The Faith Middleton Show
We highly recommend "Love Me, Feed Me" for you and your Sunday Dog or as a great gift anytime you visit someone who loves their dog.
Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs at Boston Dogs.
Thanks to everyone who Hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support.
In writing about this book for the James Beard Foundation, Maggie Borden praised it as a, “… masterful exploration of the contributions of African-American women to our nation's culinary landscape. Pages after pages of reproduced archival materials and recipes upend the historical stereotype of black women in the kitchen as illiterate ‘Aunt Jemimas,’ proving how instrumental these oft-ignored chefs were to our dinners and diets.”
Toni Tipton-Martin said about her research, "I eventually owned nearly 300 African American cookbooks …" dating back to 1827. Her work set me on my own search for food writing and cookbooks that would help me better understand the African American contribution to our shared food culture.
Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs
Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs by Psyche A. Williams-Forson examines the roles that chicken, both as the bird and the food, has played in the lives of black women from the past to the present. For some women, chicken led to economic freedom and independence.
This one is not a cookbook but is a fascinating read and, in some ways, connects the others on this list with one food, chicken. This connection with the food lore of the past came to my attention in a contemporary cookbook, Red Rooster by Marcus Samuelsson.
Samuelsson’s cookbook is about far more than recipes, just as his Harlem restaurant Red Rooster is as much about community as it is about food. Each section begins with an essay about some aspect of the multi-dimensional mission that Red Rooster represents to him and his team.
Chicken plays a starring role in his restaurant and his book as he tells of his two year obsession with creating the perfect fried chicken dish that would be worthy of the Harlem chicken tradition.
In an interesting connection to the The Jemima Code, the basement supper club is named Ginny’s after a woman from Harlem who worked for his partner’s family. He wants it to be a place where all the Ginnys would feel welcome.
No list on this topic would be complete without a book by chef and food writer Edna Lewis. Her New York Times obituary recalled an earlier interview in which she said, "As a child in Virginia, I thought all food tasted delicious. After growing up, I didn't think food tasted the same, so it has been my lifelong effort to try and recapture those good flavors of the past." With this in mind, I suggest you read her book, “The Taste of Country Cooking.”
While this column was introduced as a reading list, it is also a cooking list, and I hope you will try some of the recipes and/or menus you come across. All of these books are available from the Boston Public Library.
As a bonus for this online version of this Fresh & Local newspaper column, we have not only linked to the books on Amazon, but also to each author's page, making this a more extensive reading list in case you already know the specific books we selected to feature here.
In writing about this book for the James Beard Foundation, Maggie Borden praised it as a, “… masterful exploration of the contributions of African-American women to our nation's culinary landscape. Pages after pages of reproduced archival materials and recipes upend the historical stereotype of black women in the kitchen as illiterate ‘Aunt Jemimas,’ proving how instrumental these oft-ignored chefs were to our dinners and diets.”
Toni Tipton-Martin said about her research, "I eventually owned nearly 300 African American cookbooks …" dating back to 1827. Her work set me on my own search for food writing and cookbooks that would help me better understand the African American contribution to our shared food culture.
Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs
Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs by Psyche A. Williams-Forson examines the roles that chicken, both as the bird and the food, has played in the lives of black women from the past to the present. For some women, chicken led to economic freedom and independence.
This one is not a cookbook but is a fascinating read and, in some ways, connects the others on this list with one food, chicken. This connection with the food lore of the past came to my attention in a contemporary cookbook, Red Rooster by Marcus Samuelsson.
Samuelsson’s cookbook is about far more than recipes, just as his Harlem restaurant Red Rooster is as much about community as it is about food. Each section begins with an essay about some aspect of the multi-dimensional mission that Red Rooster represents to him and his team.
Chicken plays a starring role in his restaurant and his book as he tells of his two year obsession with creating the perfect fried chicken dish that would be worthy of the Harlem chicken tradition.
In an interesting connection to the The Jemima Code, the basement supper club is named Ginny’s after a woman from Harlem who worked for his partner’s family. He wants it to be a place where all the Ginnys would feel welcome.
No list on this topic would be complete without a book by chef and food writer Edna Lewis. Her New York Times obituary recalled an earlier interview in which she said, "As a child in Virginia, I thought all food tasted delicious. After growing up, I didn't think food tasted the same, so it has been my lifelong effort to try and recapture those good flavors of the past." With this in mind, I suggest you read her book, “The Taste of Country Cooking.”
While this column was introduced as a reading list, it is also a cooking list, and I hope you will try some of the recipes and/or menus you come across. All of these books are available from the Boston Public Library.
As a bonus for this online version of this Fresh & Local newspaper column, we have not only linked to the books on Amazon, but also to each author's page, making this a more extensive reading list in case you already know the specific books we selected to feature here.
For those of us who rely on great food scouts to lead us to delicious, it is good to see the MC Slim JB byline back in print thanks to The Improper Bostonian.
Since the demise of the Boston Phoenix and Stuff Magazine, we have been able to follow MC Slim JB on forums and social media. But, we love that now regular deadlines will assure us of a steady flow of recommendations.
Here are the first two reviews for The Improper Bostonian:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino Screen shot from the Improper Bostonian
Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
For those of us who rely on great food scouts to lead us to delicious, it is good to see the MC Slim JB byline back in print thanks to The Improper Bostonian.
Since the demise of the Boston Phoenix and Stuff Magazine, we have been able to follow MC Slim JB on forums and social media. But, we love that now regular deadlines will assure us of a steady flow of recommendations.
Here are the first two reviews for The Improper Bostonian:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino Screen shot from the Improper Bostonian
Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
For those of us who rely on great food scouts to lead us to delicious, it is good to see the MC Slim JB byline back in print thanks to The Improper Bostonian.
Since the demise of the Boston Phoenix and Stuff Magazine, we have been able to follow MC Slim JB on forums and social media. But, we love that now regular deadlines will assure us of a steady flow of recommendations.
Here are the first two reviews for The Improper Bostonian:
Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino Screen shot from the Improper Bostonian
Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
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