Jubilee by Toni Tipton-Martin

There is a lot of great material in this book, and I couldn't be cooking out of it at a more meaningful time.  As our nation confronts, yet again, our continued history of racial injustice, it feels good to be immersing myself in the cooking that has been going on in African American communities for two hundred years.
Toni Tipton-Martin is know for having written a food column in the Los Angeles Times that did not include a recipe, but was rather an exploration of the place that food plays in the culture of a people and a community.  Perfect.  That is what we have here.  Well researched stories, recipes with historical context as well as alternative ways of making traditional dishes, and along the way, an appreciation for the wonder that this food represents.
There are a lot of recipes with very little meat, a stretching of a scarce resource in homes eating on a budget.  There is a lot of the holy trinity of creole cooking--green pepper, onion, and celery, which I love.  There are a lot of rice and corn recipes, another favorite.  Check out this cookbook, it is something special.