Cookbook Club: The Rise by Marcus Samuelsson
“We have to get rid of our biggest wound in America: racism. I hope that feeding each other, learning about our food and who makes it, is part of what will help us heal. ”
I love cookbooks. My husband often jokes with me about the sheer number of cookbooks taking up space on shelves all over the house. I’ve tried and tried to sift through them in an effort to minimize my collection, but I realized that true love means never having to say goodbye so these books are basically part of our marriage now. It’s fine.
Cookbooks hold so much within their pages as they get used over the years. Certain sections get more worn than others, splashes of food end up on a couple pages, and notes scratched in pencil offer a window into what the cook learned and wanted to pass along. Paging through my grandmother’s cookbooks, reading her sweet handwritten notes on the weathered pages, always feels like sitting down with her in her little Tennessee home. I want that experience for my children and grandchildren when they look through my cookbook collection. I’m not precious about my cookbooks…I want them to be ‘lived in’.
As I was paging through a couple of my newer cookbooks over the weekend, it occurred to me that I don’t talk about these books much on Set the Table. I’m hoping to change that with the start of my Cookbook Club series! Each month, I’ll highlight a cookbook from my collection and let you in on what I love about it, what recipes I’ve made and enjoyed, and what makes each book special and worth the shelf space in your home.
I want to kick off this series by featuring the book The Rise by Marcus Samuelsson. I deeply believe that food has the power to change how we view the world, how we understand one another, and how we find connection where we thought there was none. The Rise is a beautiful example of how all of these things are possible. Samuelsson writes with clarity and passion about the recipes, their history, the Black chefs who tell stories through their food, and how Black food impacts the way we eat today.
This book will open your eyes to basic recipes you’ll want to cook daily (like the Roasted Sweet Potatoes on page 9), and will introduce you to new flavors and ingredients you have never used (like the Lettuce Wrap with Tamarind-Ginger Roasted Pork and Coconut Spiced Rice- SO GOOD). Each recipe is an adventure and an education all in one.
When I purchased this book, I sat down and read it cover to cover over the span of 2 or 3 days. As I read, I made a list of all the recipes I wanted to cook from its pages. I am still working through that list, but I can tell you that the recipes I have cooked have taught me so much. Not only did this book educate me on Black food, but it helped open my eyes to Black voices in the food industry that I now seek out, follow, and love to learn from. Food writer and historian Donna Battle Pierce, sommelier André Hueston Mack, chef Mashama Bailey (her Chef’s Table episode is pure magic)…these are just a few of the individuals highlighted in the pages of The Rise.
“The Rise was created to highlight the incredible talent and journey of Black chefs, culinarians, and writers at work today, and to show how the stories we tell can help make a more equitable, just industry. I hope this work, and this moment, leads to us raising up Black winemakers, authors, and farmer. I hope it leads to us supporting the next generation of Black chefs and hospitality workers who will change our industry forever. And I hope that this movement becomes a part of a permanent and much broader social change.”
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be highlighting a couple dishes from The Rise here on the blog over the course of the month, but you’ll have to purchase or check out the book from your library if you want the recipes. Trust me: this one is well worth owning.
In the meantime, you can go here to find a copy of The Rise.
Be well. Eat well. Learn and grow.
