A Kwanzaa Keepsake and Cookbook: Celebrating the Holiday with Family, Community, and Tradition

by Jessica B. Harris

From the award-winning author of High on the Hog—inspiration for the “energetic, emotional, and deeply nuanced” (The New York Times) Netflix series of the same name—comes a new and updated edition of A Kwanzaa Keepsake, another important exploration of African American culture, food, and family, featuring recipes and stories to help this generation create unique holiday traditions.

Now with a new introduction by award-winning writer and iconic culinary historian Jessica B. Harris, a foreword by chef and television personality Carla Hall, revised recipes and stories, and a fresh new package, A Kwanzaa Keepsake offers proverbs, ceremonies, family projects, inspirational biographies, blessings, and of course, wonderful recipes. Structured around the seven days of Kwanzaa and the virtues each day represents, Harris shares a themed feast for each night, designed to reflect the principle of the day. Some of the menus include:

-Umoja (Unity), featuring dishes of multinational origin such as Seasoned Olives, Mechoui-Style Leg of Lamb with cumin, mint, and chili, and a classic Caribbean rum punch, and reminds readers of the union of all peoples of African descent.
-Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), composed of dishes from the African continent including Sweet Potato Fritters, Grilled Pepper Salad, and Piment Aimee, a hot sauce from one of the author’s friends.
-Kuumba (Creativity) is a healing supper and communal meal that opens the gates of remembrance through food. The repast is centered around a heritage recipe and includes others for Pickled Black-Eyed Peas, a fish dish from the the Ivory Coast, Spicy Cranberry Chutney, and a killer pecan pie with molasses whipped cream.

Interspersed throughout the book are spaces to record family memories, sayings, and recipes. Rich in culinary history, and a source of inspiration for treasuring and recording family traditions both old and new, A Kwanzaa Keepsake is a book to cherish, and one that families will turn to again and again.

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

Published November 5, 2024

About the author

According to Heritage Radio Network, there's perhaps no greater expert on the food and foodways of the African Diaspora than Doctor Jessica B. Harris. She is the author of twelve critically acclaimed cookbooks documenting the foods and foodways of the African Diaspora including Iron Pots and Wooden Spoons: Africa's Gifts to New World Cooking, Sky Juice and Flying Fish Traditional Caribbean Cooking, The Welcome Table: African American Heritage Cooking, The Africa Cookook: Tastes of a Continent, Beyond Gumbo: Creole Fusion Food from the Atlantic Rim. Harris also conceptualized and organized The Black Family Reunion Cook Book.Her most recent book, High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America, was the International Association for Culinary Professionals 2012 prize winner for culinary history.
In her more than three decades as a journalist, Dr. Harris has written book reviews, theater reviews, travel, feature, and beauty articles too numerous to note. She has lectured on African-American food and culture at numerous institutions throughout the United States and Abroad and has written extensively about the culture of Africa in the Americas, particularly the foodways. In the most recent edition of the Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, author John Mariani cites Harris as the ranking expert on African American Foodways in the country. An award winning journalist, Harris has also written in numerous national and international publications ranging from Essence to German Vogue. She's a contributing editor at Saveur and drinks columnist and contributing editor at Martha's Vineyard magazine. In 2012, she began a monthly radio show on Heritage Radio Network, My Welcome Table, that focuses on Food. Travel, Music, and Memoir.

Dr. Harris has been honored with many awards including a lifetime achievement award from the Southern Foodways Alliance (of which she is a founding member) and the Lafcadio Hearn award as a Louisiana culinary icon from The John Folse Culinary Academy at Louisiana's Nicholls State University. In 2010, she was inducted into the James Beard Who's Who of Food and Beverage in the United States.

Dr. Harris holds degrees from Bryn Mawr College, Queens College, New York, The Université de Nancy, France, and New York University. Dr. Harris was the inaugural scholar in residence in the Ray Charles Chair in African-American Material Culture at Dillard University in New Orleans where she established an Institute for the Study of Culinary Cultures. Dr. Harris has been a professor of English at Queens College/C.U.N.Y. for more than four decades. She is also a regular presenter at the annual Literary Festival in Oxford, England, a Patron of Oxford Gastronomica at Oxford/Brookes University in Oxford, England, and a consultant to the Lowcountry Rice Culture Project in South Carolina. She is currently at work developing a center for connecting culinary cultures in New Orleans.

In 2012, Dr. Harris was asked by the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture to conceptualize and curate the cafeteria of the new museum which is being built on the Mall in Washington DC that is scheduled to open in 2015 and is a member of the Kitchen Cabinet at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. The Heritage Radio Network sums her up saying, "Doctor Jessica B. Harris damn near knows it all when it comes to African and Caribbean cuisines and culinary history. She's a living legend". Harris lives in New York, New Orleans and Martha's Vineyard.

Reviews

[Hilari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is delightful. It combines recipes with history and biographies. We’re definitely going to incorporate the principles of Kwanzaa next year with the homemade gifts AND making the gingerbread.

The book is laid out with the 7 principles of Kwanzaa for each chapter. We get a bit of history with a few biographies followed by a menu with recipes. The chapters end with a project. There are also pages in each chapter to add your own notes.

My only complaint is the paper and cover it’s printed on. It’s too flimsy for a cookbook and more suited to mass market. Cookbooks need to be sturdier.

Still, it’s a great boost to your library!

I won this book in a giveaway here on GoodReads and I’m so appreciative to have it!

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cookbook offers more than just recipes. It gives you history about Kwanzaa. I love how informative it is. Above each recipe is also an interesting fact about history or something about the author that relates to the recipe. I definitely think this cookbook stands out from any other cookbook i have seen. It even gives space for you to write about your own family recipes and family notes.

I won this book from a goodreads giveaway! Thank you so much!

[Mandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful cookbook full of history, culture and amazingly delicious recipes.

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Scribne and Jessica B. Harris for giving me an ARC of this wonderful cookbook!!

[Glenn Stenquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Brittany Ribeiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Won this on goodreads giveaways. When came in I read it . And can’t wait to start cooking. I highly recommend this book

[Angie Waller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to learn about the history and the food. Can’t wait to try all the recipes.

[Susan Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all the recipes and illustrations. I would recommend.