Harlem Really Cooks: The Nouvelle Soul Food of Harlem

I actually purchased this book a few years ago when I was looking for a birthday gift for a relative. My family is two generation Native New Yorkers (i.e., my parents generation, and my generation were all born and pretty much raised in NYC -- specifically Harlem and the Bronx) and the generations before that were all born and raised in the South (Virginia and NC) but migrated to NYC in the 40s, so this book fit my family's taste buds perfectly. Being raised in NYC, you get exposed to food from all over the globe, so it was perfectly natural to take those flavors and start melding them with Southern staple foods. As a result, it was nothing for us to eat fried chicken, with a West Indian or Cuban side dish. This cookbook perfectly captures that, so it was like "coming home" when I read it the first time. Not to mention the fact that the food that comes out of these recipes is just plain delicious. Recipes are simple to follow, but provides just the right level of flavor complexity. Only thing that I might change about the book is the way its organized; however, I have to admit that's also part of the charm of it, because its organized in the way that many Harlem families ate the foods -- by holiday and occasion.Overall -- very happy with my purchase.

nice stories; great recipes!

The person who won this cooikbook squealed with delight. It was the hit of the door prize drawing. Good recipes, good illustrations and very good condition of the book

The book is absolutely wonderful. It brought back memories from when I use to cook with my mother. These recipes are easy and so full of love. I wish I had the opportunity to have met the author. She must have been some kind of woman!

I am enjoying the book Harlem Really Cooks as an excellent parallel of life colloquial experience in Harlem through récipes. As I read chapters I find an urge to try recipe as a way of being having prescense in that moment.A nice piece of reading. 2Herm

Harlem Really Cooks is a beautiful work of visual and literary art that documents a specific period in Harlem through recipes, illustrations, references and stories. The book provides menus that are composed of a mélange of recipes from the author- Sandra Lawrence, and her social network which spans the US, Africa and the Caribbean. She shares personal and humorous stories around the menus and recipes that are gustatory celebrations of a slice of the American life, relationships between mothers and daughters, aunts and nieces, grandmothers and granddaughters, friendships forged across the Caribbean and Africa- Guyana, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Senegal and Ethiopia. Food is depicted as the expression of love, friendship, struggles and celebrations. This is complemented by Benny Andrews' selected works from his illustrations between 1985 to 2004, magnifying a part of life that is musical and poignant and that celebrates life and history. The blues motif illustrations complement the recipes influenced by the historical struggle. And, the selections from the Langston Hughes and Migrant series conjure up images of the poetry of Harlem renaissance and the first migration. These expressions of Sandra Lawrence and Benny Andrews provide a sense of timelessness in the shared understanding of food as the expression of love, commitment, meaningful interactions and history I read the book not as a cook book but as a historical document, designed beautifully and deserving a place in museums that capture a slice of the American life.

It's a great book. I like the fact that it's broked down into seasons and the receipes are easy to follow. The Cuban port receipe is wonderful! I love that it also has nice art work.

Harlem Really Cooks is more than a cookbook. It's a sharing of stories at a family reunion, a visit to an art gallery, it's experiencing Harlem, Africa or the Caribbean, without leaving home. I love this book and give it the highest recommendation.