What do you think?
Rate this book
Taste of Country Cooking
The recipes and reminiscences of the American country cooking Lewis grew up with some 50 years ago. A richly evocative memoir of a lost time and a practical guide to recovering its joys in your own kitchen.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
368 people are currently reading
3893 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
Read
June 27, 2017My husband walked by the other night and asked what I was reading. “Oh, just a cookbook” I answered. “What for?” he said with raised eyebrows and added, “When was the last time you cooked something from a cookbook?” He had a point. “Well, this one’s really interesting. I’ve always wanted to know how to butcher a hog”. That sent him on his way shaking his head.
To tell the truth, my husband was right. I read lots of cooking magazines and cookbooks and yet make very little beyond the usual meals I’ve cooked the last forty-seven years. What he doesn’t realize is, cookbooks are read for more than the recipes. They are oral histories of lives lived, our connection to family through food and celebration and storytelling at their finest.
The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis, reissued with a foreword by Alice Waters, is a gem. This is one of those times that I wish I knew how it got on my reading list as I’d love to thank the source for the recommendation. Lesson learned.
Edna Lewis was born in 1916, the year my own dear father entered this world. This is probably where their commonality ended though their Christmas stockings held similar treats. The foreword penned by Alice Waters begins
”Miss Edna Regina Lewis was born in Virginia in 1916, in a bucolic, out-of-the-way settlement known as Freetown, which had been founded by her grandfather and other feed slaves after the emancipation of 1865.She enjoyed a childhood that could only be described as idyllic, in which the never-ending hard work of a farming and cooking both sustained an entertained an entire community. In 1976, with the publication of this lovely, indispensable classic of a cookbook, she brought her lost paradise of Freetown back to life. Thanks to this book, a new generation was introduced to the glories of an American tradition worthy of comparison to the most evolved cuisines on earth, a tradition of simplicity and purity and sheer deliciousness that is only possible when food tastes like what it is, from a particular place, at a particular point in time.”
Now, thirty years later, this anniversary edition may once again offer readers a glance into a time past. A time when food, was not packaged, shipped and purchased at a chain grocery store but was planted, grown, raised and cooked from scratch using recipes handed down from generation to generation. Not fast food, but meals that took hours to prepare on wood stoves by the women of the house with hard work pride and love; the original farm to table.
After an introduction that gives us a brief history of Edna and her grandfather’s farmland the cookbook is presented in four seasons, each with their harvests, feasts and stories.
It would be impossible to share all that delighted me and most likely you’d pick something different anyway. Here is a sample of each season.
Spring - ”Coffee or Java (as we called it)”
”The smell of coffee cooking was a reason for growing up, because children were never allowed to have It and nothing haunted the nostrils all the way out to the barn as did the aroma of boiling coffee. The decision about coffee was clear and definite and a cook’s ability to make good coffee was one of her highest accomplishments. Mother made real good coffee but some mornings my father would saddle the horse and ride more than a mile up the road to have his second cup with his cousin Sally, who made the best coffee ever.
This brings back memories of the first coffee I brewed for my husband and his uncle prior to our marriage. It’s a miracle he married me.
The description of Carmel Pie, with a history of more than one hundred and fifty years was a specialty of the Freetown Ladies and one that Edna calls haunting.
Pan-fried Shad was a favorite meal of Spring, as shad is only available around May in Virginia just as it is here in Connecticut. I prefer it sprinkled with a bit of pepper, topped with lemons, wrapped and foil and grilled. Somehow we missed Shad season this year and need to wait a whole year to enjoy it again.
Summer
”The busy season of harvesting and caning brought many delights at mealtime: deep-dish blackberry pie, rolypoly, summer apple dumplings, peach cobblers, and always pound cake to accompany the fruits or berries that would be left from canning."
A delight of summer would be turtle soup. My uncle used to make this and though I did like it I’ll stick to that pound cake recipe Edna provides.
Fall – Race Day Picnic
”Beautiful Montpelier, nestling in the Shenandoah Valley, surrounded by an oak forest, was the most perfect spot to have a great fall picnic lunch. Everyone would be dressed in the latest fashions to attend the races, even the handsome guest horses wearing the colorful silks of their stables.”
Winter - Christmas
”Around Christmastime the kitchens of Freetown would grow fragrant with the baking of cakes, fruit puddings, cookies, and candy. Exchanging gifts was not a custom at that time, but we did look forward to hanging our stockings from the mantel and finding them filled on Christmas morning with tasty “imported” nuts from Lahore’s, our favorite hard candies with the cinnamon-flavored red eye, and oranges who special Christmas aroma reached us at the top of the stairs.”
One last thought.
Edna and her sisters loved liver pudding. It is the one recipe I have no desire to try.
To tell the truth, my husband was right. I read lots of cooking magazines and cookbooks and yet make very little beyond the usual meals I’ve cooked the last forty-seven years. What he doesn’t realize is, cookbooks are read for more than the recipes. They are oral histories of lives lived, our connection to family through food and celebration and storytelling at their finest.
The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis, reissued with a foreword by Alice Waters, is a gem. This is one of those times that I wish I knew how it got on my reading list as I’d love to thank the source for the recommendation. Lesson learned.
Edna Lewis was born in 1916, the year my own dear father entered this world. This is probably where their commonality ended though their Christmas stockings held similar treats. The foreword penned by Alice Waters begins
”Miss Edna Regina Lewis was born in Virginia in 1916, in a bucolic, out-of-the-way settlement known as Freetown, which had been founded by her grandfather and other feed slaves after the emancipation of 1865.She enjoyed a childhood that could only be described as idyllic, in which the never-ending hard work of a farming and cooking both sustained an entertained an entire community. In 1976, with the publication of this lovely, indispensable classic of a cookbook, she brought her lost paradise of Freetown back to life. Thanks to this book, a new generation was introduced to the glories of an American tradition worthy of comparison to the most evolved cuisines on earth, a tradition of simplicity and purity and sheer deliciousness that is only possible when food tastes like what it is, from a particular place, at a particular point in time.”
Now, thirty years later, this anniversary edition may once again offer readers a glance into a time past. A time when food, was not packaged, shipped and purchased at a chain grocery store but was planted, grown, raised and cooked from scratch using recipes handed down from generation to generation. Not fast food, but meals that took hours to prepare on wood stoves by the women of the house with hard work pride and love; the original farm to table.
After an introduction that gives us a brief history of Edna and her grandfather’s farmland the cookbook is presented in four seasons, each with their harvests, feasts and stories.
It would be impossible to share all that delighted me and most likely you’d pick something different anyway. Here is a sample of each season.
Spring - ”Coffee or Java (as we called it)”
”The smell of coffee cooking was a reason for growing up, because children were never allowed to have It and nothing haunted the nostrils all the way out to the barn as did the aroma of boiling coffee. The decision about coffee was clear and definite and a cook’s ability to make good coffee was one of her highest accomplishments. Mother made real good coffee but some mornings my father would saddle the horse and ride more than a mile up the road to have his second cup with his cousin Sally, who made the best coffee ever.
This brings back memories of the first coffee I brewed for my husband and his uncle prior to our marriage. It’s a miracle he married me.
The description of Carmel Pie, with a history of more than one hundred and fifty years was a specialty of the Freetown Ladies and one that Edna calls haunting.
Pan-fried Shad was a favorite meal of Spring, as shad is only available around May in Virginia just as it is here in Connecticut. I prefer it sprinkled with a bit of pepper, topped with lemons, wrapped and foil and grilled. Somehow we missed Shad season this year and need to wait a whole year to enjoy it again.
Summer
”The busy season of harvesting and caning brought many delights at mealtime: deep-dish blackberry pie, rolypoly, summer apple dumplings, peach cobblers, and always pound cake to accompany the fruits or berries that would be left from canning."
A delight of summer would be turtle soup. My uncle used to make this and though I did like it I’ll stick to that pound cake recipe Edna provides.
Fall – Race Day Picnic
”Beautiful Montpelier, nestling in the Shenandoah Valley, surrounded by an oak forest, was the most perfect spot to have a great fall picnic lunch. Everyone would be dressed in the latest fashions to attend the races, even the handsome guest horses wearing the colorful silks of their stables.”
Winter - Christmas
”Around Christmastime the kitchens of Freetown would grow fragrant with the baking of cakes, fruit puddings, cookies, and candy. Exchanging gifts was not a custom at that time, but we did look forward to hanging our stockings from the mantel and finding them filled on Christmas morning with tasty “imported” nuts from Lahore’s, our favorite hard candies with the cinnamon-flavored red eye, and oranges who special Christmas aroma reached us at the top of the stairs.”
One last thought.
Edna and her sisters loved liver pudding. It is the one recipe I have no desire to try.
November 28, 2020
A unique experience! So much more than a cookbook, The Taste of Country Cooking is a sweetly contemplative and often elegiac travelogue through Lewis' life as a girl in Freetown, Virginia, a farming community founded by freedmen including the author's grandfather. It is hard to do justice to the moving quality of the writing, which manages to be both matter-of-fact (the post-butchering preparation of a hog carcass is described quite clearly) and lyrical (portraits of her mother cooking, the smells of fruits and slow cooking, her long summer days with her many siblings, a child's wonder at life's busyness and bounty). Lewis structures the cookbook by season, describing the high points of each and how the changing of seasons impacted farming life and the food that came to her table. Sections and subsections start with recollections about each time of year, as well as key events such as Sheep-Shearing Day, Wheat-Harvesting Day, Sunday Revival, Race Day, Emancipation Day, and Christmas Eve. Many of the individual recipes include snatches of history about this or that vegetable and how they came to her community, or how a certain cut of meat tastes compared to other cuts. She describes life on this Freetown farming settlement as an almost utopian place of hard work, plentiful food, generous friends and family, a strong sense of community, and a true partnership with nature. This was an immersive experience and I soon came to live in this special place and time.
And it was just that for Lewis: a very specific place and time: her past. At the age of 16, after the death of her father, she struck out on her own to New York City where she worked in many different jobs (including three hours as a laundress), became something of a bohemian and socialite as well as an ardent radical, eventually married Harlem communist spokesman Steve Kingston, and formed a 50/50 partnership with the fabulous international antiques dealer John Nicholson. And so through the late '40s to the mid-'50s, she was chef and partner at what would become the renowned and very au courant author-magnet named Cafe Nicholson. Many years later- with a number of stops and starts along the way - she authored a series of cookbooks that eventually positioned her as one of the foremost authorities on Southern cooking. Edna Lewis passed away in 2006 at 90 years of age. In 2014, she was commemorated in stamp form by the U.S. Postal Service. I came to learn of her recently, on episode six of Top Chef's 14th season.
All that said, perhaps the many remembrances and pictures of life in Freetown painted by Lewis have such an elegiac quality to them because she spent a mere one-sixth of her storied life in that setting. The Taste of Country Cooking is a splendid cookbook, of course, but it is also a portrait of a bygone life and an era long past. Fond wistfulness suffuses this lovely and poignant book.
Sad to say, it is unlikely that I will make many of these recipes because I really feel that the flavors that Lewis so beautifully describes will only come after using ingredients fresh from garden and field (or - during winter months -from the bounty that comes from home-canning), meat from animals that roam free on a country farm, food foraged or hunted or fished within the forest and streams surrounding her community farm, and then cooked over wood-burning stoves and hearths. That said, there were still a good number that seemed doable, including:
> Skillet Scallions
> Lentil and Scallion Salad
> Scalloped Potatoes (featuring beef broth rather than dairy)
> Pan-fried Oysters
> Virginia Fried Chicken with Browned Gravy
> Pan-fried Chicken with Cream Gravy
> Chicken Gelatine (recipe looks more tasty than its title!)
> Blueberry Sauce
> Caramel Pie
But as delicious as they may sound, the recipes are scarcely the point of The Taste of Country Cooking. This is a book about nature and a certain community and times past. I had a wonderful experience getting to know my new friend Edna, traveling with her back to her youth and through some of her earliest, most precious memories.
And it was just that for Lewis: a very specific place and time: her past. At the age of 16, after the death of her father, she struck out on her own to New York City where she worked in many different jobs (including three hours as a laundress), became something of a bohemian and socialite as well as an ardent radical, eventually married Harlem communist spokesman Steve Kingston, and formed a 50/50 partnership with the fabulous international antiques dealer John Nicholson. And so through the late '40s to the mid-'50s, she was chef and partner at what would become the renowned and very au courant author-magnet named Cafe Nicholson. Many years later- with a number of stops and starts along the way - she authored a series of cookbooks that eventually positioned her as one of the foremost authorities on Southern cooking. Edna Lewis passed away in 2006 at 90 years of age. In 2014, she was commemorated in stamp form by the U.S. Postal Service. I came to learn of her recently, on episode six of Top Chef's 14th season.
All that said, perhaps the many remembrances and pictures of life in Freetown painted by Lewis have such an elegiac quality to them because she spent a mere one-sixth of her storied life in that setting. The Taste of Country Cooking is a splendid cookbook, of course, but it is also a portrait of a bygone life and an era long past. Fond wistfulness suffuses this lovely and poignant book.
Sad to say, it is unlikely that I will make many of these recipes because I really feel that the flavors that Lewis so beautifully describes will only come after using ingredients fresh from garden and field (or - during winter months -from the bounty that comes from home-canning), meat from animals that roam free on a country farm, food foraged or hunted or fished within the forest and streams surrounding her community farm, and then cooked over wood-burning stoves and hearths. That said, there were still a good number that seemed doable, including:
> Skillet Scallions
> Lentil and Scallion Salad
> Scalloped Potatoes (featuring beef broth rather than dairy)
> Pan-fried Oysters
> Virginia Fried Chicken with Browned Gravy
> Pan-fried Chicken with Cream Gravy
> Chicken Gelatine (recipe looks more tasty than its title!)
> Blueberry Sauce
> Caramel Pie
But as delicious as they may sound, the recipes are scarcely the point of The Taste of Country Cooking. This is a book about nature and a certain community and times past. I had a wonderful experience getting to know my new friend Edna, traveling with her back to her youth and through some of her earliest, most precious memories.
August 15, 2017
This is Little House in the Big Woods for adults. Edna Lewis writes through the seasons, demonstrating how to make scrumptious food without the newest, oldest, or next best kitchen appliance. Honestly, she made meringue made with a fork!
Look at the cover photo. That winsome smile compels me, that face makes me want to name Edna Lewis my friend.
I haven't cooked from this book yet. Lard, a common ingredient, is something I swore off a few years back. (But who knows? How many formerly reviled foods are now pronounced good? ::confused exhale::)
Edna's way of cooking is so old —so primitive, in a way— that it's en vogue today. Whether you call it slow cooking, farm to table, eating locally, eating seasonally, or sustainable agriculture, that's the kind of meal preparation you get. All the stories are a bonus!
Ham held the same rating as the basic black dress. If you had a ham in the meat house any situation could be faced.
There were high points of the summer that made your work rewarding. One was the day you picked the first ripe tomato.
Although there were no exceptions of our usual custom of sitting down together three times a day for meals, during Christmas week we were free to return to the food safe as many times a day as we liked and my mother would never say a word.
Along in February, she would save all of her eggshells, line them up on the windowsill, place the seed of a green bean in each one, and add about a tablespoon of water. When sprouted enough she would set them, still in the shell, into a prepared row and cover them with soil on the first warm day of spring.
Look at the cover photo. That winsome smile compels me, that face makes me want to name Edna Lewis my friend.
I haven't cooked from this book yet. Lard, a common ingredient, is something I swore off a few years back. (But who knows? How many formerly reviled foods are now pronounced good? ::confused exhale::)
Edna's way of cooking is so old —so primitive, in a way— that it's en vogue today. Whether you call it slow cooking, farm to table, eating locally, eating seasonally, or sustainable agriculture, that's the kind of meal preparation you get. All the stories are a bonus!
Ham held the same rating as the basic black dress. If you had a ham in the meat house any situation could be faced.
There were high points of the summer that made your work rewarding. One was the day you picked the first ripe tomato.
Although there were no exceptions of our usual custom of sitting down together three times a day for meals, during Christmas week we were free to return to the food safe as many times a day as we liked and my mother would never say a word.
Along in February, she would save all of her eggshells, line them up on the windowsill, place the seed of a green bean in each one, and add about a tablespoon of water. When sprouted enough she would set them, still in the shell, into a prepared row and cover them with soil on the first warm day of spring.
January 29, 2026
Very glad that this particular cookbook exists as it serves as a culinary memoir, chronicling how Southern food was prepared in Freetown, VA in the early 1900's. The recipes, along with the essays and headnotes, provide a historical glimpse into how food was procured and prepared back then, all whole foods that fully embracing farm-to-table and nose-to-tail cookery.
Recipes are presented in menus by season and are well written. Am guessing that there are no pictures at all in this book because it was first published in 1976 (there are olde timey b&w illustrations sprinkled throughout so it isn't a complete visual wasteland). Vegetarians and vegans (and animal lovers in general), take heed that the book throws the covers off exactly where the meats used are sourced, from the pet ducks to the full on hog butchering.
One take away I plan to try is making my own baking powder. The recipes in the book used single-acting baking powder but that doesn't exist anymore and Miss Edna provided her own recipe for a baking powder that best approximates what was used back in the day.
Recipes are presented in menus by season and are well written. Am guessing that there are no pictures at all in this book because it was first published in 1976 (there are olde timey b&w illustrations sprinkled throughout so it isn't a complete visual wasteland). Vegetarians and vegans (and animal lovers in general), take heed that the book throws the covers off exactly where the meats used are sourced, from the pet ducks to the full on hog butchering.
One take away I plan to try is making my own baking powder. The recipes in the book used single-acting baking powder but that doesn't exist anymore and Miss Edna provided her own recipe for a baking powder that best approximates what was used back in the day.
October 25, 2022
If you’re going to be influenced by any of the 573829 books I log here from my classes let it be this one. Edna Lewis was extraordinary.
October 2, 2012
I knew this place and these flavors well; maybe not the homemade wines and the salsify, but these dishes and seasonal ways of being were still alive during my Deep South childhood in the "60's. Gravy? You don't know gravy until you've had ham and cream ...
February 19, 2009
An already cherished gift from a great friend - reads like a novel, the best, most comforting novel you can imagine. I would read every menu aloud just to hear the words - blackberries and cream, ham biscuits, watermelon rind pickles, Tyler Pie, a thermos of hot coffee...I am going to find Freetown, Virginia and have a memorial picnic for Edna Lewis one day, I swear
October 28, 2020
I am rating this more as a reading book than a cookbook. No doubt it's a fine cookbook; however, my interest in it was to read about the wonderful Edna Lewis' memories of her Virginia childhood and life in a small town. That said, her fried chicken, corn pudding, and biscuit recipes can't be beat. Just note that the friend chicken is supposed to be a special thing. Make that one too often, and you'll need to put a cardiologist on speed-dial.
Lewis was born in 1916, so her memories are of the simpler, more native southern life and of meals made from farm-fresh foods before "farm fresh" became a marketing buzz phrase with little meaning. Her constant reminder to pick vegetables in the early mornings reminded me of my grandmother's similar admonishments, as did her obvious disdain for "brownulated" sugar and the lack of quality of modern pork and poultry. I suspect her memories of life in Freetown, VA were softened and romanticized a little, but that is the privilege of elders and good storytellers.
The recipes in this cookbook are straight-forward and simple. They assume a certain self-confidence and comfort in the kitchen. That doesn't mean they are difficult. Most are easy, but without the hand-holding of current cookbooks written for people who are afraid to boil water without specific instructions. There are no photos, which no doubt will send some people into spasms because they imagine they can't possibly make something without 47 color photographs. Let's be honest here: the best cooks don't learn to cook by leafing through glossy photo-rich cookbooks penned by celebrity chefs or by reading Instagram or blogs. They learn by watching, doing, by using their sense of smell, hearing, and touch, and by doing. As Lewis says, no one taught her to cook; she just learned.
The book I have is the 30th anniversary edition. I wish I'd noticed that before I bought it because I would have then hunted down the original without the totally unnecessary -- and to me, unwelcome -- forward by Alice Waters. As usual, Waters' comments add nothing but hot air. Just skip it and read the lovely second (original) forward by Judith Jones instead.
And to get an idea of what Edna Lewis was about, there is a nice documentary on her here .
This is about her later cookbook with Scott Peacock, but it provides some biographical material. Plus you get to see that decadent fried chicken and those biscuits.
I wish someone would make a movie of Lewis' life. She did so many fascinating things in her life, not just cooking and championing Southern foods.
Lewis was born in 1916, so her memories are of the simpler, more native southern life and of meals made from farm-fresh foods before "farm fresh" became a marketing buzz phrase with little meaning. Her constant reminder to pick vegetables in the early mornings reminded me of my grandmother's similar admonishments, as did her obvious disdain for "brownulated" sugar and the lack of quality of modern pork and poultry. I suspect her memories of life in Freetown, VA were softened and romanticized a little, but that is the privilege of elders and good storytellers.
The recipes in this cookbook are straight-forward and simple. They assume a certain self-confidence and comfort in the kitchen. That doesn't mean they are difficult. Most are easy, but without the hand-holding of current cookbooks written for people who are afraid to boil water without specific instructions. There are no photos, which no doubt will send some people into spasms because they imagine they can't possibly make something without 47 color photographs. Let's be honest here: the best cooks don't learn to cook by leafing through glossy photo-rich cookbooks penned by celebrity chefs or by reading Instagram or blogs. They learn by watching, doing, by using their sense of smell, hearing, and touch, and by doing. As Lewis says, no one taught her to cook; she just learned.
The book I have is the 30th anniversary edition. I wish I'd noticed that before I bought it because I would have then hunted down the original without the totally unnecessary -- and to me, unwelcome -- forward by Alice Waters. As usual, Waters' comments add nothing but hot air. Just skip it and read the lovely second (original) forward by Judith Jones instead.
And to get an idea of what Edna Lewis was about, there is a nice documentary on her here .
This is about her later cookbook with Scott Peacock, but it provides some biographical material. Plus you get to see that decadent fried chicken and those biscuits.
I wish someone would make a movie of Lewis' life. She did so many fascinating things in her life, not just cooking and championing Southern foods.
August 1, 2017
Oh my goodness, I just opened this cookbook and I think I will enjoy reading it cover to cover - even make some of the recipes for our quiet 4th of July BBQ at home...
This is the best way, if extremely worky, to make the best tasting food.
This is a story about a farming community that worked together to raise the kids and tend the fields, animals and gardens used to make the food for each family and the entire community.
Sounds like a wonderful utopian existence, except that it is really a lot of constant hard work and everyone must do their part.
I wish I could cook like that - I will try in corporate some of the techniques into my own meal prep, though.
This is the best way, if extremely worky, to make the best tasting food.
This is a story about a farming community that worked together to raise the kids and tend the fields, animals and gardens used to make the food for each family and the entire community.
Sounds like a wonderful utopian existence, except that it is really a lot of constant hard work and everyone must do their part.
I wish I could cook like that - I will try in corporate some of the techniques into my own meal prep, though.
June 10, 2009
Oh, my, my, just lovely. Like dessert, this book is perfect for reading in bed and dropping imaginary everyday-cake-crumbs on the sheets. A lovely story about eating locally and sustainably before it was made trendy by Whole Foods. I had severe family jealousy for a bit (although my family always ate quite well, too - in a small rural town, we often ate canned jams from local blackberries & the like).
I got this from the library, but I will definitely be looking for a used copy at the next bookstore I enter.
I got this from the library, but I will definitely be looking for a used copy at the next bookstore I enter.
September 3, 2012
A combination of charming memoir, practical technique and delicious sounding recipes sprinkled with a good serving of vanishing skills. If only we worked hard enough these days to eat the meals she describes!
January 1, 2025
I got this for Christmas. My family and I had a lot of fun reading the recipes and learning about all the different things we had never heard of before. What a treasure! Each page tells a story worth reading.
We discussed how grateful we are to have the things we do today and just sat back in awe over Mrs. Edna Lewis and how she grew up in Freetown. So much respect!
We discussed how grateful we are to have the things we do today and just sat back in awe over Mrs. Edna Lewis and how she grew up in Freetown. So much respect!
December 7, 2022
It didn't occur to me until now to rate cookbooks on here, but the truth is, I read cookbooks all the time and they influence me as much as literature can.
This book is great. Other reviews emphasize the recipes but what really captivated me about this book, what makes me return to it, is the description of how they lived in Freetown. It connects the dots between food culture and reality: seasons, lifespans, spoilage, fermentation. There are descriptions of what gets eaten and by whom, when, from what vessels, how it's stored, what they anticipated in one season or another, how work impacted their appetite, what was rare and what was abundant. When you read a book like this, other recipe collections seem strangely disengaged from the reality of savoring what you produce and save. It's all the tactile fun of Laura Ingalls Wilder without the genocidal mania of Western Expansion. It's an amazing book.
This book is great. Other reviews emphasize the recipes but what really captivated me about this book, what makes me return to it, is the description of how they lived in Freetown. It connects the dots between food culture and reality: seasons, lifespans, spoilage, fermentation. There are descriptions of what gets eaten and by whom, when, from what vessels, how it's stored, what they anticipated in one season or another, how work impacted their appetite, what was rare and what was abundant. When you read a book like this, other recipe collections seem strangely disengaged from the reality of savoring what you produce and save. It's all the tactile fun of Laura Ingalls Wilder without the genocidal mania of Western Expansion. It's an amazing book.
October 3, 2015
This book was such a joy to read. If you like to cook, if you like to garden, if you're Southern, if history of the way we eat and cultivate food interests you - definitely read this book. It is a lovely (and lovingly crafted) book about the process of food and cooking and the reasons certain foods were eaten.
July 5, 2017
A great cookbook and historical account. The recipes are more interesting because of the stories about farming and community. Good tips and mouth-watering ideas.
May 12, 2021
This book is a true gift. Edna Lewis was a genius and a communist in the 50s to boot. I plan on reading all her other books and reading all the interviews I can find. For anyone interested in food this is a must. I would also rec to anyone interested in farming, which I am personally not interested in doing in the slightest but feels necessary to know about if u eat food! This book is very romantic and romanticized, and I think that was a very intentional choice. Edna Lewis is an icon!!
February 22, 2019
What a beautifully evocative story of home and childhood and every best memory of the rewards of dedication and hard work. Then there are the recipes, each within its particular season. Can't wait to dig in!
December 27, 2021
Single-handedly the most informative and interesting cookbook I’ve read all year. Southern cooking, especially African American foodways, have such a poor reputation with many white northerners and this book completely eradicated that notion in my mind. I’m excited to own this book soon and be able to easily access both the recipes but also the stories and wisdom of the author.
September 11, 2017
This was such an interesting cookbook. There is so much history behind the recipes and the meals. I like how the book was broken into seasons, then into meals. It was interesting to see how much food was served at each meal. I did find some recipes I'm hoping to try. If you're looking for healthy, this is not the cookbook for you! But it's still a good read.
October 18, 2008
Edna Lewis was cooking seasonally before it was trendy to do so - it was simply the way she and her family lived on their family farm. Her recipes flow from season by season, using ingredients we think of as "gourmet" today - sorrel, fresh thyme, fish roe. A true farmhouse cookbook, Miss Lewis's stories and anecdotes are a joy to read.
March 25, 2018
I don't normally list cookbooks on Goodreads, but this one is perfect for reading curled up in bed - full of enticing recipes, it also reads as a memoir of Edna Lewis's childhood and an ode to the food ad customs of Freetown, a farming community of freed slaves in VA.
March 29, 2015
Lovely!
February 3, 2017
Delightful
September 4, 2021
I own an original 1978 version of this classic cookbook. It is one of the very first cookbooks I bought - back in my first year of college. I went to the U of Chicago where the affiliated Seminary School had an infamous basement bookstore. It rambled though basement nooks and crannies and was the best place to get lost during a cold winter day between classes. The Seminary Coop still exists, but is now in an English Basement storefront not too far from the original.
Once a year they held a cookbook sale. I attended every year, but this book came from the very first sale I attended. I’ve gotten rid of many of those cookbooks over the years, but held on to this wonderful collection. I hadn’t opened it up in probably 20-30 years, but thanks to the Goodreads Reading Women Challenge (find in the “community” menu) I picked this book up anew and read it cover to cover.
The Taste of Country Cooking deserves its status as a classic. Even more, it is a memoir of Edna Lewis’s life growing up on a rural Virginia farm. The book is divided by seasons and I enjoyed the memories shared. Like many families, life revolved around the meals cooked and shared. Unlike most modern families this book recounts the seasonal rotation those meals revolved around.
There are many heirloom recipes very relevant to today’s way of eating. I’m adding many to my upcoming meal planning. There are also some recipes I’ll never make (liver pudding, kidney pie) but found fascinating to read about.
If you enjoy cooking or reading about cooking pick up this classic. If you are interested in US history pick it up - you won’t find any better descriptions of early 1900’s daily life than you will here - especially for small farmers and African American traditions.
Once a year they held a cookbook sale. I attended every year, but this book came from the very first sale I attended. I’ve gotten rid of many of those cookbooks over the years, but held on to this wonderful collection. I hadn’t opened it up in probably 20-30 years, but thanks to the Goodreads Reading Women Challenge (find in the “community” menu) I picked this book up anew and read it cover to cover.
The Taste of Country Cooking deserves its status as a classic. Even more, it is a memoir of Edna Lewis’s life growing up on a rural Virginia farm. The book is divided by seasons and I enjoyed the memories shared. Like many families, life revolved around the meals cooked and shared. Unlike most modern families this book recounts the seasonal rotation those meals revolved around.
There are many heirloom recipes very relevant to today’s way of eating. I’m adding many to my upcoming meal planning. There are also some recipes I’ll never make (liver pudding, kidney pie) but found fascinating to read about.
If you enjoy cooking or reading about cooking pick up this classic. If you are interested in US history pick it up - you won’t find any better descriptions of early 1900’s daily life than you will here - especially for small farmers and African American traditions.
January 15, 2022
This is a wonderful book with great recipes, but the best part is the narrative her her growing up in rural Virginia in Freetown, a burg started by her grandfather and others after they were freed at the end of the Civil War. The year-long account of life on the farm and the significant events in their lives provides an eye-witness view of freed slaves and their legacy. As much a historical tract as a cookbook, this charming volume also reminds my own immigrant grandmother's way of life, albeit in the city. She is the one who took me to the farmer's market every Saturday and carefully chose the fresh vegetables and other items. She taught me how to cook, not by pulling out a recipe, nor by sitting me down and explaining. Rather, as I hung around the kitchen as she cooked, I learned. She was a superb cook who regularly led a team of church women to make dinners for 50-100 in the church basement social hall.
The Taste of Country Cooking reminds us that cooking is the ultimate social activity. It is a way of sharing, a necessity for life, and provides for some of our fondest memories. Aromas as Lewis points out are defining moments in our lives. I give thanks that Lewis shared so much with us as well as other professional chefs.
The Taste of Country Cooking reminds us that cooking is the ultimate social activity. It is a way of sharing, a necessity for life, and provides for some of our fondest memories. Aromas as Lewis points out are defining moments in our lives. I give thanks that Lewis shared so much with us as well as other professional chefs.
October 26, 2022
Excellent. This book is a masterclass in foodways. Superbly written to place the reader in a time and place, so softly yet acutely rendered, that it somehow feels like home even when your own home couldn’t be farther from the African-American farm community of Freetown, Virginia in the early decades of the twentieth century. Edna Lewis has a gentle, expert writing voice that both enthralls and soothes as she describes the environment in which she grew up, and the way that the farm and community provided an abundance of very fine ingredients, harvested, preserved and cooked to bring forth the very best qualities of the food by skilled home cooks.
And the recipes… oh the recipes! They may be near a century old, but boy do they hold up. Farm to table, but before that was a trending restaurant buzz phrase for seasonal cooking. Simple, sometimes deceptively so, and elegant, these recipes rely on the pure goodness of very fresh ingredients, prepared with thoughtful respect for seasonality, resources and timing. And the sheer delight of preparing, sharing, and eating good, fresh, home-cooked meals.
I could say so much more. This cookbook belongs in every kitchen, if nothing else than to remind us of how and when food is meant to be eaten. A cover to cover read.
And the recipes… oh the recipes! They may be near a century old, but boy do they hold up. Farm to table, but before that was a trending restaurant buzz phrase for seasonal cooking. Simple, sometimes deceptively so, and elegant, these recipes rely on the pure goodness of very fresh ingredients, prepared with thoughtful respect for seasonality, resources and timing. And the sheer delight of preparing, sharing, and eating good, fresh, home-cooked meals.
I could say so much more. This cookbook belongs in every kitchen, if nothing else than to remind us of how and when food is meant to be eaten. A cover to cover read.
May 26, 2022
I don't normally read cookbooks. After a few years as a short-order cook in a small restaurant I don't really cook much anymore. (a talented spouse and classically-trained chef son pretty much put an end to that) But I read this cookbook from cover to cover. It's just that good.
Ms. Lewis was once hailed as the Queen of Country Cooking and ran a very successful restaurant in New York City. I've eaten some of her recipes (I refer you to the last paragraph) and they are tasty.
But that's not why I love this cookbook.
She not only explains how to make the dishes but why they were made. This the breakfast for the day we slaughter the hogs. This is the cake my grandmother would always have handy for unexpected guests. This is the refreshing drink for after a July day working the fields. These passages are what make the book such a delight and are what warranted my occasional five stars. You not only get to taste her food but you get a taste of what life was like in her small village of Freetown, Virginia.
Besides, she's the first person I've run across, besides myself, who waxes enthusiastic about the joys of toasted bread with "too much butter". The woman was a culinary genius.
Ms. Lewis was once hailed as the Queen of Country Cooking and ran a very successful restaurant in New York City. I've eaten some of her recipes (I refer you to the last paragraph) and they are tasty.
But that's not why I love this cookbook.
She not only explains how to make the dishes but why they were made. This the breakfast for the day we slaughter the hogs. This is the cake my grandmother would always have handy for unexpected guests. This is the refreshing drink for after a July day working the fields. These passages are what make the book such a delight and are what warranted my occasional five stars. You not only get to taste her food but you get a taste of what life was like in her small village of Freetown, Virginia.
Besides, she's the first person I've run across, besides myself, who waxes enthusiastic about the joys of toasted bread with "too much butter". The woman was a culinary genius.
Read
November 26, 2025I’m going to say something that’s been said so many times before, but there’s nothing wrong with praising work that deserves to be praised.
This is more than a cookbook. I keep coming back again and again to the recipes, but equally as often I find myself coming back to Ms. Lewis’s introduction chapter and the forward before the actual recipes. She was an immensely talented storyteller, and had an almost supernatural ability to open a window to the past with her prose. How lucky we are that she’s invited us all to look through that window with her.
She was also a wonderful, highly-skilled chef. These recipes are so special in part because you get a peak into the wild-foraged food her family was making. It’s not presented as a novelty or romanticized exercise in “building a relationship with the land” like so many modern forage cookbooks are- it’s simply a snapshot of the way that so many people were compelled to find and prepared food for their loved ones for so many generations. Now I’m out in the autumn woods, aggravating my joints while collecting wild hickory nuts for cookies. Highly recommend.
This is more than a cookbook. I keep coming back again and again to the recipes, but equally as often I find myself coming back to Ms. Lewis’s introduction chapter and the forward before the actual recipes. She was an immensely talented storyteller, and had an almost supernatural ability to open a window to the past with her prose. How lucky we are that she’s invited us all to look through that window with her.
She was also a wonderful, highly-skilled chef. These recipes are so special in part because you get a peak into the wild-foraged food her family was making. It’s not presented as a novelty or romanticized exercise in “building a relationship with the land” like so many modern forage cookbooks are- it’s simply a snapshot of the way that so many people were compelled to find and prepared food for their loved ones for so many generations. Now I’m out in the autumn woods, aggravating my joints while collecting wild hickory nuts for cookies. Highly recommend.
August 22, 2024
"The Taste of Country Cooking," Edna Lewis will not be a cookbook with recipes you'll find yourself making, as "some of" the ingredients are not available to us today. You will however, enjoy the stories and history behind them.
What led me to this book, were a few books I had read prior to this one about how much of our foods are processed and biochemically altered nowadays. I believe this book was suggested in there?
The recipes come from homegrown vegetables, ingredients and animals raised on a farm. What Edna's family had to do just to prepare a meal is way beyond what most of us would do today. The amounts of food served at meals were another thing most of us wouldn't eat. You have to remember how very hard they physically had to work on their farms in the early 1900s.
My favorite chapters were reading about her memories from her holidays and the meals which were prepared.
If you enjoy learning about history and the preparation of "real" Southern food, you will enjoy this one.
What led me to this book, were a few books I had read prior to this one about how much of our foods are processed and biochemically altered nowadays. I believe this book was suggested in there?
The recipes come from homegrown vegetables, ingredients and animals raised on a farm. What Edna's family had to do just to prepare a meal is way beyond what most of us would do today. The amounts of food served at meals were another thing most of us wouldn't eat. You have to remember how very hard they physically had to work on their farms in the early 1900s.
My favorite chapters were reading about her memories from her holidays and the meals which were prepared.
If you enjoy learning about history and the preparation of "real" Southern food, you will enjoy this one.
December 5, 2025
I've had this book for a while but opened it a few weeks ago when a friend asked me to search my books for collard green recipes. This book doesn't have one as such, rather it has a page of general advice on cooking greens.
Many recipes of the traditional south (I just finished reading The Buster Holmes Restaurant Cookbook: New Orleans Handmade Cookin') are fairly simple, so reading a cookbook in this group can feel a bit disappointing. In reviews, it has generated more than one temper tantrum.
This book gives the background in the cycle of the year in the town where Edna Lewis grew up, founded by freed slaves of her grandparents' generation. It also explains the general rational for cooking decisions. So for example, I cooked mutton for the first time not following her exact recipe but following the description she gave for how to cook mutton.
Many recipes of the traditional south (I just finished reading The Buster Holmes Restaurant Cookbook: New Orleans Handmade Cookin') are fairly simple, so reading a cookbook in this group can feel a bit disappointing. In reviews, it has generated more than one temper tantrum.
This book gives the background in the cycle of the year in the town where Edna Lewis grew up, founded by freed slaves of her grandparents' generation. It also explains the general rational for cooking decisions. So for example, I cooked mutton for the first time not following her exact recipe but following the description she gave for how to cook mutton.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews