SubscribeThe food griot
Gaining confidence in cooking requires understanding one’s own particular taste in food and learning not to be afraid of making mistakes, which are often fixable. I’m always experimenting with recipes and more often than not, I trust my instincts when creating new ones. The other day, Sherry Howard, the co-owner of this blog, told me how much she loves tomato bisque and described some of the steps she took to teach herself how to make some.
After listening to her experience, I decided to try it myself in an attempt to perfect a recipe before I share some with her.
As a cook who has learned many of my skills by listening and observing my mother and my grandmothers, and as a journalist who spent two decades working in radio before moving to print, I sometimes find it easier to tell rather than write down recipes. I’m really an auditory person, and the oral tradition is in my nature. Like my elders did with me, I’m using that same method to teach my own children how to navigate their way around a kitchen.
During slavery, African Americans weren’t allowed to read or write, and many of our ancestors passed down our history orally. Fortunately, the oral tradition had been learned in Africa before they were taken from their own country and brought to America. In the Motherland, pertinent information was traditionally preserved by a person known as a griot. The site www.soundjunction.org describes a griot as “a musician, a sage and a unifier – one of the key figures in African society.”
In cooking, recipes are often passed down in that same oral tradition. But since the digital age has become so prominent throughout society, much of this technique is lost and people often rely on technology instead of their memories.
Sherry and Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb, the owners of the We Are Black Women blog network, have suggested that I return to my broadcast roots, explain my recipes into a recorder and transcribe them for print.With my strong radio background, I plan to turn them into podcasts and in the tradition of our ancestors, will eventually publish them here through the spoken word, as well as the written.
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As the mother of five and a journalist, I've always encouraged people to empower themselves with information on healthy foods and lifestyles. Nurturing our children with healthy food is one of the most important jobs we have, yet as families have become busier or drifted apart, meal times have been sacrificed.
