Ntozake Shange

Ntozake Shange offers this personal culinary memoir, with dashes of literature and pinches of music, in her rousing tribute to black cuisine as a food of life that reflects the spirit and history of a people. With recipes such as "Collard Greens to Bring You Money," Shange introduces us to 'Afro-Atlantic foodways:' a cuisine born on the slave ships of the Middle Passage, and shared by all members of the African Diaspora. If I Can Cook/You Know God Can is a vivid story of the migration of a people that opens our hearts and minds to what it means for "black folks in the Western Hemisphere to be full."

If I Can Cook, You Know God Can

New edition available. Search ISBN 9780807021446. Acclaimed artist Ntozake Shange offers this delightfully eclectic tribute to black cuisine as a food of life that reflects the spirit and history of a people. With recipes such as "Cousin Eddie's Shark with Breadfruit" and "Collard Greens to Bring You Money," Shange instructs us in the nuances of a cuisine born on the slave ships of the Middle Passage, spiced by the jazz of Duke Ellington, and shared by all members of the African Diaspora. Rich with personal memories and historical insight, If I Can Cook/You Know God Can is a vivid story of the migration of a people, and the cuisine that marks their living legacy and celebration of taste.

African American Food Memories, Meditations, and Recipes

If I Can Cook/You Know God Can

Sabrina D. 

For North Americans, a pot with burnt rice on the bottom is a scary concept. But all over the Caribbean, it's a different story entirely. In order to avoid making asopao—a rice moist and heavy with the sofrito or tomato-achiote mixture, almost like a thick soup where the rice becomes one mass instead of standing, each grain on its own—it is necessary to let the rice at the bottom of the pot get a crustlike bottom, assuring that all moisture has evaporated. 

On missing and reconnecting to the African diaspora. 

We are blessed, since we can find our ovens and stoves and make up for some of what we long for.

The recipe instructions are so beautiful. 

…stir gently with a wood spoon until the mixture has a whirring sound like a woman's many skirts. 

I found this book at the library shortly after finishing “For Colored Girls.” The title and the bright yellow of the spine called out to me even though the book happened to be on the very bottom shelf. I recognized the authors name and after being so engrossed in her play/poetry, I knew I had to check this book out too. Excellent, informative, personal, and diasporic memoir/cookbook. I’ve never read anything like it, but every passage was beautiful and treated you like a friend or family. This is a book for foodies, for anyone of the African diaspora, and for writers. It is another book that inspires me to write and shifts the bounds of what it means to write. 

If I Can Cook, You Know God Can

Reviews

Highlights