Entertainment

“The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks” Book Review

Published

11 years ago

November 27, 2015

You woke up this morning with a craving.

So is breakfast time too early to think about dinner? Is it bad to want to sneak home for lunch, just to make your favorite comfort food? No, because nothing else tastes good when you’re hankering for something specific.

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Your stomach won’t give up until you’ve satisfied that craving, so you might as well give in a little and read “The Jemima Code” by Toni Tipton-Martin.

Though her upbringing in California was sprinkled with foods reminiscent of her family’s origins in the South, Toni Tipton-Martin says that “precious few” of her favorite foods “qualified as southern.”

That made her, she says, “a casualty of the Jemima code,” which she defines as something that classifies the “character and life’s work of our nation’s black cooks as insignificant.”

She set out to change that.

In many libraries, cookbooks by African American authors are lacking. “Even,” says Tipton-Martin, “the southern cookbooks were silent on the subject” so she began to specifically collect cookbooks written by black authors, containing the knowledge and recipes of black cooks.

As her collection grew, so did her understanding and she began seeing how “cooking changed, and cooks changed with it.”

From an obscure 1827 cookbook – the first one published by an African American author (and a man!) – Tipton-Martin realized that many black cooks “existed in the culinary shadows as far as cookbook writers were concerned.”

Much of their work was probably credited to white owners or employers.

Technological advances in the early twentieth century altered how meals were made; science entered the picture, too, as did household worker’s unions – the latter, to the frustration of white employers, which is something African American cookbooks quietly reflected.

By mid-century, the early Civil Rights Movement could be spotted in black cookbooks of the day. Soul Food enjoyed new appreciation in the 1960s from hippies, flower children, “feisty black cooks,” and people of all races.

By the 1980s, African American cookbooks were penned by football stars, gardeners, and experts alike. Says Tipton-Martin, “it was the cooks’ time to shine” although, even in today’s kitchen, “the times are not yet postracial.”

There are, as I see it, three main reasons why you’d want “The Jemima Code” on your kitchen bookshelf.

First, author Toni Tipton-Martin’s history is a surprising one. Reading her discoveries of cookbook subtleties and social mores alongside recipes through the years feels like opening a multi-layered gift, and her evolution of the Mammy figure is also fascinating.

And those recipes she found? Though there aren’t a lot of them here, the ones that peek out through the pages are classic and easy to follow.

And finally, there’s a treasure-trove of pictures inside, of cooks at work and of the cookbook covers themselves, making this large-sized book one that readers will want to carry with them from kitchen to living room, countertop to easy chair.

You’ll scarcely know what to look at first, or what to cook next, making “The Jemima Code” a book you will crave.

“The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks” by Toni Tipton-Martin, c. 2015, University of Texas Press, $45.00; 246 pages.

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Oakland Post: Week of September 30 – October 6, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 30 – October 6, 2026

Published

5 days ago

October 4, 2026

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From Historic Memories to New Possibilities: Oakland Celebrates Coliseum 60

More than 75 people gathered at Youth UpRising in East Oakland on Friday, September 18, for Coliseum 60, an event marking six decades of sports, entertainment, employment, and community memories at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex. Held 60 years to the day after the Coliseum first opened, the celebration featured cultural performances and a mini-documentary highlighting its history. Speakers reflected on the venue’s significant role in the community and its future possibilities. Read more to learn about the individuals and stories honored during this special event.

Published

2 weeks ago

September 27, 2026

Post News Group

Quixote Atkins of VillageGIVE moderates a panel discussion at the Coliseum 60 celebration at Youth UpRising featuring Keith Brown, a member of IATSE Local 107; author, historian and former Black Panther Party member Tareka Lewis; and African American Sports and Entertainment Group President Ray Bobbitt.

By Carla Thomas

More than 75 people gathered at Youth UpRising in East Oakland on Friday, Sept. 18, for Coliseum 60, a celebration honoring six decades of sports, entertainment, employment and community memories connected to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex.

Held 60 years to the day after the Coliseum opened, the event carried the theme, “One Community. One Legacy. One Future. Forward Together.”

The celebration opened with the national anthem performed by sisters Anese Jade, Amina Benjamin and Zaza Benjamin. Diamano Coura West African Dance Company contributed African dance and drumming, bringing movement, rhythm and cultural expression to the program.

A mini documentary highlighted the Coliseum’s sports history and its broader role as an entertainment destination. Archival material recalled performances by Prince and Tina Turner, along with memorable games featuring the Warriors, Oakland A’s and Raiders.

“The Coliseum 60 is about much more than celebrating a building or looking back at 60 years of history,” said event organizer Quixote Atkins of VillageGIVE.

“It’s about the people who made that history possible: the families, workers, athletes, artists, community leaders, fans and generations who gathered there and created memories together.”

A panel exploring that history featured author, historian and former Black Panther Party member Tareka Lewis; stagehand and union representative Keith Brown; and Ray Bobbitt, president of the African American Sports and Entertainment Group AASEG. Lewis described her family as fourth-generation Bay Area pioneers.

“My family and Black families who arrived even earlier helped build the Bay Area, grew businesses and established culture here,” Lewis said. “This should be taught in the public schools.”

Lewis recalled Oakland’s influence on sports, music and literature, from the Raiders’ beginnings at Laney College to stars such as The Pointer Sisters and Rickey Henderson who attended Oakland public schools. She also advocated for school museums, historical timelines, entrepreneurship training and investments benefiting corridors such as Bancroft Avenue and High Street.

Keith Brown, a member of Local 107 of the International Alliance of Theater and Stage Employees (IATSE) who began working at the Coliseum in 2011, remembered the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the Ice Capades, baseball bat giveaways and Nelson Mandela’s 1990 appearance.

“The special events are amazing, but it’s the workers that make the memories real for everyone,” Brown said. “They make the magic happen at the Coliseum.”

The program recognized longtime workers, including beer-stand manager Robert Preston, who served for 40 years, and Kenyatta Gentry, who worked as a vendor for 24 years and used her earnings to purchase her first apartment. Union workers Jose Gonzales and Carmen Sandoval were also honored. Speakers emphasized that Coliseum employment provided generations of residents with union wages and benefits.

Dr. Denise Saddler, the superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) was also honored. Saddler shared her family’s history of working at the Coliseum.

District 7 Oakland City Councilmember Ken Houston discussed the complex ownership arrangements involving the city, county and private interests.

“This was the most complex deal of its kind in the country,” Houston said.

Prior to moving from the East Coast, Alameda County Supervisor and Coliseum Joint Powers Authority Chair Nate Miley recalled learning about Oakland through its three professional sports teams. As an elected official and public servant, Miley fought hard to keep the Golden State Warriors, Oakland As, and the Raiders, but he is hopeful for the future.

“The story is not over for the Coliseum,” Miley said. “We’re entering a new chapter.”

Bobbitt said the departure of three teams had once seemed unimaginable, but he maintained that Oakland’s future remains bright.

“Oakland is a cultural superpower worldwide,” Bobbitt said. “We’re going to write the future where we participate and drive the redevelopment.”

Bobbitt highlighted AASEG’s four-year partnership with Castlemont High School’s architecture program, which engages students in reimagining and creating redevelopment concepts for the Coliseum property. “The youth will always move us forward. They are the future.”

In closing, Atkins said, “September 18 is the celebration, but what we build together afterward is the legacy.”