WELCOME

People are always surprised that Black people reside in the hills of Appalachia. Those not surprised that we were there, were surprised that we stayed.

Years ago, when O. Henry prize-winning writer Crystal Wilkinson was baking a jam cake, she felt her late grandmother’s presence. She was not the only cook in her kitchen; her ancestors, too, were stirring, measuring, and braising alongside her. These are her kitchen ghosts, five generations of Black women who settled in Appalachia and made a life a legacy and a cuisine.

As the keeper of her family’s stories and treasured dishes, Wilkinson shares her inheritance in Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts. Part memoir, part cookbook, Praisesong weaves those stories together with recipes, family photos, and a lyrical imagination to present a culinary portrait of a family that has lived and worked the earth of the mountains for over a century.

Members and their friends, or others by invitation, are welcome to join the conversation, but you must RSVP to obtain the link: sarah.gideonse@fuse.net.