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(More customer reviews)I'm a Lowcountry Jew, as alien to the typical New York Jew as a Jewish Cowboy bustin' broncos out West. I'm not a bookworm, but I didn't play football either. I can tell you all about grits, but I didn't know what a bagel was till I went "up North". I talk slow, but I talk a lot. See what I'm getting at here? Who the hell am I? I know now. Janis Owens told me in THE CRACKER KITCHEN. I'm a Jewish Cracker.
And everyone in my synagogue down here feels the same way. Why? They're Jewish Crackers too. We read a lot, but we like our grits cooked just the way Ms. Owens and her folks do. And since in our little community THE CRACKER KITCHEN has surpassed even the Old Testament (to say nothing of EXODUS) in popularity, our Oneg Shabbats are so downright mouth-watering and delicious, so divinely inspired by Ms. Owens' recipes, that Hell, even the Methodists, the Baptists, and the Presbyterians are showing up. In THE CRACKER KITCHEN Ms. Owens shows us all two things: who we are, and that the way to a man ( or woman's) heart is through his stomach, Cracker or not, as long as you're using her recipes.
Unlike so many books that come out of the South nowadays, Ms. Owens never condescends. She sees our cracker heritage for what it is, and loves us unconditionally. THE CRACKER KITCHEN transcends race, culture and class as Ms. Owens voice-- funny, arresting, disarmingly honest and bold--transcends modern Southern literature.
If you don't read this book, consider yourself stupid for life. This from a Jew. This also from a Cracker.
Thank you, Ms. Owens.
The Cracker Kitchen: A Cookbook in Celebration of Cornbread-Fed, Down Home Family Stories and CuisineThe Cracker Kitchen: A Cookbook in Celebration of Cornbread-Fed, Down Home Family Stories and Cuisine
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Though our roots are in the Colonial South, we Crackers are essentially just another American fusion culture, and our table and our stories are constantly expanding -- nearly as fast as our waistlines. We aren't ashamed of either, and we're always delighted with the prospect of company: someone to feed and make laugh, to listen to our hundred thousand stories of food and family and our long American past.Crackers, rednecks, hillbillies, and country boys have long been the brunt of many jokes, yet this old Southern culture is a rich and vibrant part of Amer-ican history. In The Cracker Kitchen, Janis Owens traces the root of the word Cracker back to its origins in Shakespeare's Elizabethan England -- when it meant braggart or big shot -- through its proliferation in America, where it became a derogatory term to describe poor and working-class Southerners. This compelling anthropological exploration peels back the historic misconceptions connected with the word to reveal a breed of proud, fiercely independent Americans with a deep love of their families, their country, their stories, and, most important, their food.With 150 recipes from over twenty different seasonal menus, The Cracker Kitchen offers a full year's worth of eating and rejoicing: from spring's Easter Dinner -- which includes recipes for Easter Ham, Green Bean Bundles, and, of course, Cracklin' Cornbread -- to summer's Fish Frys, fall's Tailgate Parties, and winter's In Celebration of Soul, honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.Recounted in Owens's delightful and hilarious voice, the family legends accompanying each of these menus leap off the page. We meet Uncle Kelly, the Prince of the Funny Funeral Story, who has family and friends howling with laughter at otherwise solemn occasions. We spend a morning with Janis and her friends at a Christmas Cookie Brunch as they bake delectable gifts for everyone on their holiday lists. And Janis's own father donates his famous fundamentalist biscuit recipe; truly a foretaste of glory divine.The Cracker Kitchen is a charming, irresistible celebration of family, storytelling, and good old-fashioned eating sure to appeal to anyone with an appreciation of Americana.
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