Food for Talk is a book club for anyone interested in cooking!  Instructions on how to join this community of home cooks and fellow culinary travelers can be found after the description of this month's cookbook.  If reading about food, experimenting with new recipes and learning from other cooks sounds fun, sign up and join us on the second Sunday of every month at 3pm! Locations vary.

This month 2 Cookbooks!:  Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts by Crystal Wilkinson and Recipes from the American South by Michael Twitty

Please register with Barbara Shatara at bshatara@burlingtonvt.gov 

About this month's cookbooks:

Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts by Crystal Wilkinson 

Years ago, when O. Henry Prize-winning writer Crystal Wilkinson was baking a jam cake, she felt her late grandmother’s presence. She soon realized that she was not the only cook in her kitchen; there were her ancestors, too, 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.

An expert cook, Wilkinson shares nearly forty family recipes rooted deep in the past, full of flavor—delicious favorites including Corn Pudding, Chicken and Dumplings, Granny Christine’s Jam Cake, and Praisesong Biscuits, brought to vivid life through stunning photography. Together, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts honors the mothers who came before, the land that provided for generations of her family, and the untold heritage of Black Appalachia.

As the keeper of her family’s stories and treasured dishes, Wilkinson shares her inheritance in Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts. She found their stories in her apron pockets, floating inside the steam of hot mustard greens and tucked into the sweet scent of clove and cinnamon in her kitchen. Part memoir, part cookbook, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts 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.

Recipes from the American South by Michael Twitty

A deeply contextual tour of Southern food for home cooks who want well-explained recipes shaped by real history.

Michael W. Twitty maps the South dish by dish, noting where a recipe is rooted, how it shifts from place to place, and the paths—Indigenous, African, and European—that brought it to the table. Headnotes reflect careful research and teaching experience, with clear cues on technique and variation.

The collection spans more than 260 recipes across 400+ pages, organized in familiar chapters (vegetables; fish & shellfish; desserts; pies and sweets) with step-by-step instructions and thoughtful ingredient guidance. It’s everyday cooking, presented with context so you understand what makes each version distinct.

Expect the classics alongside regional specifics: spoonbread, jambalaya, and benne seed wafers share space with chicken bog from South Carolina’s Pee Dee, antebellum-era Madeira picnic ham, and sorghum taffy. Handsome photography and clean design make this as informative to read as it is inviting to cook from.

How to Join:

It's as easy as 1, 2, 3...
1. Register with Barbara Shatara bshatara@burlingtonvt.gov
2. Pick up a copy of the book from the Library's Main Desk. 
3. Read it, make a dish (not required though) and bring it to the discussion at 3 pm.