Cooking Up Change: Grandma’s Recipes from a Year in Black History

Gr 4 Up–This work is part historical text and part cookbook wherein notable teen chef Platt pays homage to both Black historical figures and his own grandmother. The cookbook is sectioned into months of the year, each featuring a significant holiday or event accompanied by a Black trailblazer and a recipe from Grandma Sarah. Readers will learn facts about Black history not often taught in schools, for example, that A. Phillip Randolph established the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids for passenger train workers, which became the first Black union to be chartered by the American Federation of Labor. In tandem are notable dishes to be enjoyed by everyone. Each event is described in small paragraphs dotted across colorful full-page spreads, with the corresponding historical figure set in the foreground and the recipe set in a colorful column at the end of each entry. Back matter includes a glossary, short biographies of the historical figures mentioned, and a further reading list. Food and history go hand-in-hand with culture, which is powerfully demonstrated with Harris’s digital illustrations of the trailblazers, Black people in action based on the description of the historical moment, and of course the recipe itself. Each recipe is complete with thorough ingredients and instructions without detracting from the historical component or the artwork.