Vibration Cooking

by Smart-Grosvenor, Vertamae; Williams-forson, Psyche

• ISBN13: 9780820337395
• ISBN10: 0820337390
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-15
• Publisher: Univ of Georgia Pr

Summary

Vibration Cooking was first published in 1970, not long after the term "soul food" gained common use. While critics were quick to categorize her as a proponent of soul food, Smart-Grosvenor wanted to keep the discussion of her cookbook/memoir focused on its message of food as a source of pride and validation of black womanhood and black "consciousness raising."In 1959, at the age of nineteen, Smart-Grosvenor sailed to Europe, "where the bohemians lived and let live." Among the cosmopolites of radical Paris, the Gullah girl from the South Carolina low country quickly realized that the most universal lingua franca is a well-cooked meal. As she recounts a cool catrs"s nine lives as chanter, dancer, costume designer, and member of the Sun Ra Solar-Myth Arkestra, Smart-Grosvenor introduces us to a rich cast of characters. We meet Estella Smart, Vertamaers"s grandmother and connoisseur of mountain oysters; Uncle Costen, who lived to be 112 and knew how to make Harriet Tubman Ragout; and Archie Shepp, responsible for Collard Greens agrave; la Shepp, to name a few. She also tells us how poundcake got her a marriage proposal (she didnrs"t accept) and how she perfected omelettes in Paris, enchiladas in New Mexico, biscuits in Mississippi, and feijoida in Brazil. "When I cook, I never measure or weigh anything," writes Smart-Grosvenor. "I cook by vibration."This edition features a foreword by Psyche Williams-Forson placing the book in historical context and discussing Smart-Grosvenorrs"s approach to food and culture. A new preface by the author details how she came to writeVibration Cooking.

Author Biography

Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor is a poet, actress, culinary anthropologist, and writer. She is the author of Thursdays and Every Other Sunday Off: A Domestic Rap, Vertamae Cooks in the Americas' Family Kitchen, and Vertamae Cooks Again: More Recipes from the Americas' Family Kitchen. She has served as a correspondent and host for National Public Radio and written for the New York Times, Village Voice, Washington Post, Life, Ebony, and Essence.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xiii
Preface to the 2011 Edition	p. xxxiii
The Demystification of Food	p. xxxvii
Home	p. 1
Birth, Hunting and Gator Tails	p. 3
The Smarts, the Ritters and Chief Kuku Koukoui	p. 9
Philadelphia, Mrs. Greenstein and Terrapins	p. 30
First Cousins and the Numbers	p. 42
Away From Home	p. 51
'59	p. 53
'68	p. 61
Madness	p. 69
Forty Acres and a Jeep	p. 71
Name-calling	p. 74
Hospitals Ain't No Play Pretty	p. 80
Taxis and Poor Man's Mace	p. 86
Work	p. 89
Love	p. 101
I Love Dinner Parties	p. 103
...My Friends	p. 107
...African Clothes	p. 116
...Bon Voyage Parties	p. 119
Mixed Bag	p. 127
Collards and Other Greens	p. 129
Poultices and Home Remedies	p. 135
Spices	p. 137
Aphrodisiacal Foods	p. 139
Cocktails and Other Beverages	p. 140
White Folks and Fried Chicken	p. 144
The Jet Set and Beautiful People	p. 150
Some Letters to and from Stella and One to Bob Thompson	p. 157
To Be Continued	p. 181
The Kitchen	p. 183
A Poem	p. 185
Introduction to the 1986 Edition	p. 187
Introduction to the 1992 Edition	p. 195
Index of Recipes	p. 209
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