An African American Cookbook: Traditional and Other Favorite Recipes is a wonderful collection of traditional recipes and food memories, as well as contemporary favorite foods. All of the dishes celebrate lusty African American eating; the traditional foods reflect the ingenious, resourceful, and imaginative Africans who made them. Included are Pastor??s Famous Ribs, Shortbread, Cracklin?? Cornbread, Okra Gumbo, Smoked Turkey and Black-Eyed Peas, New Orleans Red Beans and Rice, Cabbage with Collard Greens, Peach Cobbler, and Sweet Potato Pudding. Coupled with these old-time dishes are today??s favorite recipes?? Yogurt and Chives Biscuits, Braided Easter Bread, Pecan Cake, Five-Flavor Pound Cake, Primavera Pizza, Shrimp Bake, Roast Turkey with Oyster Cornbread Stuffing, Cajun Cassoulet, and Minestrone with Tortellini. Woven among the 400 recipes are rich historical anecdotes and sayings. They were discovered or lived by this cookbook??s contributors, many of whose ancestors participated in the Underground Railroad or lived nearby where it was active. Presented in an easy-to-use format for cooks of all traditions, this is a cookbook rich in history and rich in easy-to-prepare, wonderfully tasty food. Author Phoebe Bailey??s congregation in historic Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was a station on the Underground Railroad. Today they, and their own Harambee Historical Services (meaning "pulling together to build" in Swahili), offer Underground Railroad re-enactments and a buffet of traditional African American food to their many visitors. This cookbook celebrates those historic activities, when this church fed and then helped to spirit enslaved Africans to safety.