Better Together

One collection of history and cookery is a recipe for the perfect cookbook

- EMILY D. CREWS

When Southern Women Cook: History, Lore, and 300 Recipes with Contributions from 70 Women Writers (America's Test Kitchen, 2024) welcomes cooks of all skill levels into the diversity and creativity found in Southern women's kitchens. Each of the book's 14 sections—from “The Bread Basket” and “Rice or Grits” to “Everyday Treats” and “Southern Sippers’—features recipes and storytelling from some of the industry's brightest stars.

Historian Ashley Rose Young gives flavor to gumbo recipes with her story of Lena Richard’s famous New Orleans Gumbo House. Von Diaz, cookbook author and Emmy Award-winning producer and documentarian, tells the story of Caribbean immigrant foodways through the marriage of rice and beans and the comfort conjured by the stew pot. And mixologist and beverage historian Tiffanie Barriere reveals the West African roots of “the limitless red food and drink” made and consumed with joy on Juneteenth.

The theme that unites all these stories, selected by Cook’s Country editor-in-chief Toni Tipton-Martin and executive editor of creative content Morgan Bolling (who answered our questions below), is the vital connection between women and food; as they write, “Food is and always has been a tool for women’s empowerment. Southern recipes represent a part of our place in a world where we increasingly take up more space.”

This book weaves practical recipes with beautiful stories of the women who make them. What was it like to combine recipe development with storytelling?