Culinary historian Diane M. Spivey shows the impact of African American culture on U.S. culinary traditions with the publication of her book “Once You Go Black, You Never Go Back: The National and International Impact of African American Cuisine in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.”
Spivey’s book looks to correct the culinary narrative that overlooks Black contributions to cooking. It expands on her 2022 work, “At the Table of Power: Food and Cuisine in the African American Struggle for Freedom and Justice,” which she began writing in 2006. “At the Table of Power” explains how white-centric culinary history erases Black achievements and promotes a “culinary apartheid.” According to Spivey, this form of cultural theft takes credit for Black culinary accomplishments and attributes them to others.
The original manuscript for “At the Table of Power” was more than 1,000 pages, so Spivey divided it into two books. “Once You Go Black, You Never Go Back” is the second volume, examining how Black people achieved success in the U.S. food industry during slavery and when laws were designed to hold us back.
Stolen recipes
The American culinary master narrative still falls short in recognizing Black culinary artists, Spivey notes. She discusses figures like 19th-century restaurant owner Joseph Lee, whose patented “dough kneading” and “bread crumbing” machines transformed industrial bread-making. Lee, a baker and inventor, operated elite hotels across Massachusetts where presidents and wealthy entrepreneurs often dined.
Spivey writes about African Americans whose recipes were stolen and credited to others, like Pastry Chef Sarah Victor at New York City’s renowned Algonquin Hotel. Victor was famous for her desserts, but her recipes were essentially stolen and published under the hotel’s name in the 1942 cookbook “Feeding the Lions: An Algonquin Cookbook.” Spivey notes, “It has a chapter on cakes and cookies, and another on desserts. Note that it has recipes for all the sweet things for which Ms. Victor was known: floating island, custard pie, the Algonquin’s Famous Apple Pie, Famous Algonquin Angel Cake, rice pudding, Algonquin Pumpkin Pie, etc. Notice how the hotel’s name is placed on the recipes, while Sarah Victor’s name is nowhere to be found in this cookbook.”
Even beyond the United States, African American culinary skills were highly celebrated. The jazz drummer and bandleader Louis Mitchell gained fame in both Paris and the U.S. for his musical talent, as well as for opening clubs that served African American-style meals — including pork and beans, flapjacks, oatmeal and cream, and bacon — to diners.
Josephine Baker, the celebrated dancer, singer, and actress, also helped promote Black culinary arts internationally. “Josephine Baker gave Paris a new venue where one could sport the latest in African-inspired fashions while savoring African American dishes,” Spivey writes. “She opened a restaurant, Chez Josephine, in 1926. It was an immediate success. Her manager, Giuseppe ‘Pepito’ Abatino, set outrageous prices, ‘the most expensive in Paris.’ A dozen oysters were said to cost 45 francs (in 1980s currency, $45). She hired a Black American woman named Freddie to do the cooking, although Ms. Josephine loved to cook herself and prepared a number of the specialties … [S]he included ‘back home’ specialties on her menu, which ‘mixed its Cordon Bleu cuisine with a taste of soul,’ serving chitlins, greens, rooster combs, and black-eyed peas with canard a l’orange and shrimp pâté. Ms. Josephine was said to have a personal preference for spaghetti and red pepper, ‘cannibal sandwiches’ (beef tartar), and plover eggs.”
Several African Americans became wealthy because of their culinary talents, but being a famous chef was not always highly valued by their families. Besides leaving some money to their families, the food-related talents they handed down were often not appreciated. “A lot of times, the children did not want to enter what has been considered domestic service, such as cooking and cuisine,” Spivey explained in an interview with the AmNews. “This work originated from the era of slavery, where cooking, catering, and restaurant work were often linked to enslaved people. Around the early 20th century, many avoided these roles because they found them demeaning, feeling they resembled house-n—-r stereotypes because of their association with domestic service. And then, with the rise of French cuisine, people started investing heavily in hotel dining — often hiring white chefs specialized in French culinary techniques — so opportunities in catering and restaurants decreased compared to the 1800s.”
A challenge to ‘cultural shackling’
Spivey strongly opposes placing any cultural restrictions on Black cuisine. She calls the idea of labeling African American cuisine only as “soul food” a form of “cultural and culinary shackling.”
When asked what steps she thought today’s food industry could take to begin to acknowledge the African American role in creating U.S. tastes, Spivey’s answer is a clear directive: African Americans need to recognize and celebrate their own culinary excellence, rather than submitting to the judgment of the very people their ancestors taught how to cook.
“I have a very strong feeling about this,” she said, “and that is that we can’t afford to depend on others to acknowledge us any longer. We have to do this ourselves. We have been in every kitchen since coming here, since being dragged here as slaves in the 1600s. I mean, every possible venue that exists: steamboats, hotels, private homes, clubs, trains, everything. We were the cooks, and we were privately revered. Some white women even stole our recipes, made books, and put their names on them. That happened quite a lot in the 1800s. Yet, we became the image and the symbol of cooking.
“By the 20th century, that changed. Cooking became a profession. It became part of the entertainment industry. Now whites want it, and whites dominate this part of the industry. In doing so, they have anointed themselves as the experts and authorities over all cooking, no matter what it is; ours as well. They see themselves as the authorities. And unfortunately, we follow behind them, begging for recognition — like a Michelin star or a James Beard award — and that is absolutely ridiculous, because we taught them how to cook. When you chase after others, begging for recognition, you diminish the African and African American culinary legacy. When you do this, you uphold, maintain, and support white supremacy. We can’t keep asking outsiders to judge us and recognize us. It’s pointless, so when you ask me what we should do, I’m not interested in begging them for anything. I don’t want them to do anything. That’s my answer.”
“Once You Go Black, You Never Go Back” includes historical recipes and is written to be accessible to a broad audience, including high school and college students, Spivey said. She wants to ensure that the true history of American food is finally learned.