LA CUISINE CREOLE: A COLLECTION OF CULINARY RECIPES
New Orleans, Louisiana: F.F. Hansell & Bro., LTD., 1885. Second Edition. Octavo, 268 pages. In Good plus condition. Spine is red with gilt titling. Boards have mild bending wear to tail fore corners, moderate discoloration along spine, shelving wear and fraying along extremities, and chipping along spine head and tail. Text block has mild age toning and scuffing along edges, head edge dyed. DL Consignment.
1395647
Special Collections - Downstairs
Price: $500
NOTES
Louisiana is as known for its cultural and culinary diversity today as it was in 19th century America. Sat at the crossroads of Indigenous Americans, European colonizers, and enslaved Africans, the southern state was exemplary of the American melting pot. New Orleans specifically served as an essential port for the transatlantic slave trade prior to being outlawed in 1808 and transformed into a central hub for the domestic slave trade that emerged after its ban. Freedmen leftover from the French and Spanish colonizers who ceded Louisiana formed a decent percentage of the population and were not as economically restricted as they were elsewhere in the nascent nation. Drawn to the booming antebellum economy, free folks of color sought to settle amongst this group of increasingly educated Black people. From the intermixing of these groups and their influences on one another, a Creole identity formed. Creole refers loosely to a person of mixed Indigenous American, French or Spanish, and African descent who settled in or around New Orleans. This unique convergence of identity was mirrored in the food Creole communities invented: native ingredients combined with the flavors of Europe, Africa, and the West Indies. Inspired by the emergence of other cookbooks that centered African American flavors and recipes, such as Abby Fisher's in 1881, LA CUISINE CREOLE sought to chronicle the emergence of a cuisine that didn't just reflect the nature of its birthplace, but would continue to develop and grow over time. Though originally published anonymously, the writer Lafcadio Hearn has been recognized as its author. This second edition, published in the same year as the 1st, is the primary source of Creole cuisine.