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Cooking the Gullah Way
By Sallie Ann Robinson

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Cooking the Gullah Way

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Cooking the Gullah Way
Morning, Noon, & Night
By Sallie Ann Robinson
Foreword by Jessica B. Harris
Read How You Want, (2009)
EasyRead Large Print, in 16 Point Font
(Originally Published in Standard Print by University of North Carolina Press - Chapel Hill)
ISBN: 9781458722348
Genre: Cooking, History, Memoir
Reviewed by Angela Evans - December 14, 2009

Cooking the Gullah Way: Morning, Noon, & Night is a heartwarming and soul satisfying book that takes readers on a journey into the vibrant Gullah culture and foodways. This book was written by Sallie Ann Robinson, a celebrated chef who is a native of Daufuskie Island, one of the Sea Islands. This is a set of barrier islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. The Gullah region once extended as far north as Cape Fear, North Carolina and as far south as Jacksonville, Florida, but now is confined to the Sea Islands and some coastal low land areas in both South Carolina and Georgia. The people of the Gullah, often known as the Geechee, are predominantly African-Americans who are decedents of ex-slaves that worked in the area as rice planters or who settled in the region after the American Civil War. For decades they have protected and nurtured their ethnic identity and the heritage of their ancestors, including a creole language that includes many African words and terms.

In this captivating book, Robinson not only brings the Gullah culture to life, but also introduces readers to the Gullah culinary tradition. She explains the central role that food has, and continues to play, in Gullah tradition, as well as sharing 75 mouth-watering recipes along with an assortment of Gullah home remedies. Along with telling a little bit about Gullah history, and her own childhood, Robinson also explores how the region has changed in recent years as more and more outsiders have moved into the region along with numerous resorts, golf courses, and tourists. Throughout, the book is infused with vignettes from her own life and that of her family that give the reader of real sense of what life is like in the region today, and the importance still given to Gullah traditions.

This is a book that can be read from many different perspectives. It can be read as cookbook that is enhanced with personal reminiscence, or as a history book on the Gullah region and people, or it can be read as an anthropological or social study of a unique American subculture. Personally, I just enjoyed reading this book as if Robinson was talking to me directly, like an old friend, telling me about her family and her life, and sharing with me old family recipes and remedies. It is a heartwarming book filled with joy and happiness and a love of God that is not often found in the modern world, a joy that surrounded the Gullah in good times and in bad. Best of all, I'm enjoying trying out her recipes and sharing them with my friends and family - and in the process perhaps I'm staring some new traditions of my own...

Cooking the Gullah Way is available from Read How You Want, an on-demand publisher that makes books available in a variety of formats including Braille, DAISY, and five different large print formats that range from 16-24 point font. This range of formats makes this, and other books, available to not only visually impaired individuals, but also anyone with a reading or physical disability that makes reading standard print books difficult.

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