I’m incredibly honored to be a small part of NAACP Image Award Winner Crystal Wilkinson’s memoir, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts. Praisesong chronicles five generations of Crystal’s ancestors in Appalachia, with anecdotes and recipes aplenty.
As a collector of traditional Southern recipes and foodways it gives me such pride to see Crystal exalt the foods she and her family grew up with. I see a lot of crossover with my own upbringing — the diaspora at work — and that inspires me to dive into my own family’s food traditions, recipes, and stories.