Every hour of the day, Louisiana loses a football field squo;s worth of land to the Gulf. And so before her hometown disappears entirely, chef Melissa Martin wants to document the recipes, ingredients, and customs of the Cajun people. Cocoderie, Louisiana, may soon no longer be listed on maps, but the incredible traditions of the region should remain.
In the same way Zora Neale Hurston documented and shared oral histories of the South before its keepers passed on, Martin will tell the stories of her people. She has organised the book into 12 chapters highlighting the key ingredients of this cuisine dash; from shrimp and oysters to poultry and sugarcane edash; and the recipe and customs that surround each. The 100 recipes are for accessible home-cooked meals that readers can make on a weeknight or for a celebration Rdash; with stories to be savoured along with the food.
Each chapter is punctuated with an essay explaining the context for the ingredient, whether itfsquo;s picking and putting up blackberries each February to shrimping every August or celebrating Fat Tuesday with a king cake. This is a cookbook, but the underlying messages of heeding environmental warnings and highlighting the Cajun woman
