An American Celebration : Bringing Back Tradition

Some people would call Vanessa Roberts Parham stubborn. Others might just say she’s persistent. One thing is clear, this is a woman who doesn’t take “no” for an answer.

Take the time she was in a cookbook writing class at UCLA Extension. The teacher went around the room asking students to describe the sort of cookbooks they wanted to write. Roberts Parham told the class about her plans for a book on African-American cooking. The teacher was not encouraging.

“Do you think there’s a market for that kind of book?” Roberts Parham remembers the teacher asking.

“I got very defensive,” she says. “I told him, ‘Do you know there are two million blacks out here in California? I don’t have to depend on other ethnic groups to buy my book. We are 10% of the population.’

“He didn’t care--he was more interested in some man’s Beverly Hills fireman cookbook.”

Roberts Parham didn’t care either. She ignored the teacher’s wisdom and went ahead, putting up the money for the book herself. “The African-American Child’s Heritage Cookbook” was recently released and is already scheduled for its second printing.

“On my own, I’ve sold 2,000 copies in the last five weeks,” she says. “Now it’s starting to hit the bookstores too.”

Of course, putting out the book was no simple matter.

“I ran out of money just as I was about to finish,” Roberts Parham says. “I needed $10,000. So I called 10 close friends and asked them each to loan me $1,000. It was a Sunday and by Wednesday, everybody had Federal Expressed the money.”

When the book came out, she called on her network of friends and acquaintances again.

“I sent letters all over the country--to all my friends back east, to people I knew through college, to relatives. I told them, ‘I wrote my cookbook. Can you please help me?’ And I tell you, I was getting phone calls every day: ‘Vanessa, I sold 10 books at work today.’ ‘Oh, Vanessa, I need five more.’

“Today, a lady called me from a meat market on 51st Street--somebody had brought the book by the store and she wanted one. I said, ‘I’ll be right over.’

“A friend of mine owns a check-cashing place in Compton so I took some books over and told him to open up a copy to the black-eyed peas and chitterlings page--you eat stuff like that for New Year’s. He sold 10 copies on New Year’s Eve. My dentist sold three cases at her office. It’s been a real grass-roots effort.”

So have many of her other ventures. When the recession forced Roberts Parham and her sister to close the Whistle Stop Cafe, the breakfast-and-lunch spot they ran on a busy stretch of National Boulevard, she kept the space to make lunches for several local preschools. With a team largely made up of senior citizens--mostly mothers of her friends--she now prepares 800 preschool lunches a day.

She also uses the space to teach kids cooking classes. It is also a catering base for children’s parties. For a while she even made takeout dinners for working women to bring home to their families.

Somehow, Roberts Parham fits the time for all this around a job teaching handicapped kids and adults for the L.A. Unified School District. “I teach them survival skills,” she says, “I teach them how to ride a bus, how to go to a grocery store, how to make a simple meal. I get them a job. That’s what’s important to me.”

Many of the lessons Roberts Parham learned came from her grandmother in Harlem.

“I never saw my grandmother tired,” says Roberts Parham, still in her raincoat in the empty Whistle Stop Cafe on a gray afternoon. “She’d come home at 6 o’clock, after cooking all day for another family, and then start doing what she had to do to get dinner on the table for her own family. She never complained. And she never wasted a thing.

“We were lucky. Even though things were hard, there was always some kind of meat to mix with the beans. There was always bread. Food was always at the center of our life. Even now, at 82 years old, my grandmother still cooks.

“But a lot of grandmas are younger now,” she says. “Going to grandmother’s house is not learning to cook anymore. That’s why I wrote my cookbook--I don’t want kids to forget their traditions. My own son eats tacos and sushi, and I started wondering if he knew his own heritage.”

Before she wrote the cookbook, Roberts Parham relied on her teaching skills to pass on her knowledge of traditional African-American food. She even went so far as to go to her son’s grammar school and teach his class a thing or two.

“It was Black History Month,” she says, “but his teacher knew next to nothing about black history and didn’t have anything planned. I didn’t get upset, I just went over to the school and told them I would teach a black history cooking class. Teachers can be taught too. I’ve been going back there now for five years--my son doesn’t even go to school there anymore.”

When she teaches cooking to kids, Roberts Parham often uses what might be called the McDonald’s method: She makes things that look a little like what the kids might get with a Big Mac--sweet-potato French fries, fried fruit pies--and shows them that homemade food can taste a lot better. “I tell them how fried pies were made from whatever dough was left over from making pies, that people didn’t just throw things away.”

Her book is also intended to make learning easy. It’s printed in large type, includes brief bits of history with lots of line drawings, a listing of black holidays and the foods typically eaten, and more than 200 recipes written with simple, clear directions. Each recipe is contained on one page. “That way, you don’t have to flip through pages to finish a dish,” she says.

“It’s black food, but a lot of it is really American food. Most of the recipes I have are things that people all over the country used to eat. Everybody had rice pudding, corn pudding. That’s the way women cooked in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s.

“Just look at Bill Clinton--he comes into the White House raised on Southern food, which a lot of people think of as black food. So in a way, my book is not just for kids of color, it’s a way of bringing back traditional recipes for everyone. It’s about bringing people back in the kitchen.”

The book also includes several recipes from Africa and the Caribbean. She felt it was important to show not only the similarities between America’s blacks, but the differences too.

“A lot of blacks have never eaten African food,” she points out. “People have this stereotype that blacks are all alike--that we all eat the same food.”

There is, for instance, a difference between African-Americans in Los Angeles and African-Americans in New York. “Blacks in Los Angeles are mostly from Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma,” she says. “In New York, there are blacks from all over, especially the Caribbean.”

It was this diversity that Roberts Parham wanted to show on the cover of her book, a photo of her and a group of kids from all sorts of backgrounds.

“I wanted to show that as blacks we are a rainbow of colors,” she says. “I got some kids to pose who are a mix of black and Asian, black and Mexican, Creole, African black. . . . It cracks me up when people say we all look alike.

“No matter, I don’t give up,” she says, “because I think about slavery and how the slaves fought to the end. I’m a product of the ‘60s. I protested at civil rights rallies. I saw things and doors were opened. I’m the generation that doors opened for. It’s important to remember that--to remember where we come from.”

* “The African-American Child’s Heritage Cookbook” (Sandcastle Publishing: $19.95) is available in a limited number of Southern California bookstores, including the Cook’s Library, and Children’s Book World, both in Los Angeles, Esowon Bookstore in Inglewood, and the Black and Latin Bookstore in Pasadena.

The following is a selection of recipes from Roberts Parham’s “The African-American Child’s Heritage Cookbook.”

GRITS SOUFFLE 4 eggs, separated 3/4 cup low-fat milk 1/3 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon white pepper 1 1/2 cups grits, cooked 8 ounces cream cheese, softened 2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

Beat egg whites in large mixer bowl until stiff peaks form. In smaller mixer bowl, beat egg yolks, milk, salt and white pepper. Add grits and cream cheese, beating until smooth. Mix in 1 cup Cheddar cheese. Fold in egg whites. Pour into greased casserole dish.

Sprinkle 1 cup of cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees 45 minutes until firm. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Each serving contains about: 373 calories; 398 mg sodium; 168 mg cholesterol; 22 grams fat; 27 grams carbohydrates; 16 grams protein; 0 fiber.

SMOTHERED PORK CHOPS 4 pork chops Salt, pepper Flour 1 tablespoon oil 1 large onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon chopped parsley 1/8 teaspoon crushed thyme 1 bay leaf

Season pork chops to taste with salt and pepper. Lightly dust with flour. Heat oil in heavy non-stick skillet. Fry chops until golden brown on both sides. Remove chops from pan and keep warm.

Add onion and garlic to skillet drippings and saute until tender. Stir in 1 teaspoon flour and brown. Return chops to pan. Add water to cover chops, approximately 3 cups. Add parsley, thyme and bay leaf. Simmer, uncovered, over low heat until chops are tender, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove chops to serving plate.

Reduce sauce in skillet to desired consistency. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve over chops. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about: 334 calories; 111 mg sodium; 55 mg cholesterol; 25 grams fat; 7 grams carbohydrates; 18 grams protein; 0.2 gram fiber.

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS 3 to 4 pounds chicken, cut up 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper Flour 6 tablespoons bacon drippings, butter or margarine 1 cup chopped onions 1 cup chopped celery 1 green pepper, diced 2 tablespoons chopped parsley 1 bay leaf 6 cups water Dumpling Batter

Rinse chicken and pat dry. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Dredge with flour and set aside.

Heat bacon drippings in Dutch oven or heavy soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery and green pepper and saute until tender. Add parsley, bay leaf and chicken and cook until chicken is browned. Add water to pot and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat. Cover pot and simmer 30 minutes.

Drop Dumpling Batter by tablespoons into pot. Cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about: 716 calories; 1,446 mg sodium; 206 mg cholesterol; 42 grams fat; 40 grams carbohydrates; 41 grams protein; 0.78 gram fiber.

Dumpling Batter 1 1/4 cups flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 egg, beaten 1/2 cup milk 1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into bowl. Add egg, milk and melted butter. Stir to blend.

CRACKLING BREAD 2 cups yellow cornmeal 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/2 cup Cracklings 1 cup buttermilk 2 eggs, beaten 2 tablespoons bacon drippings

Sift cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt into large bowl. Add Cracklings, buttermilk, eggs and bacon drippings. Mix well.

Spread mixture in greased 8-inch-square baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees 25 to 30 minutes. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Each serving contains about: 424 calories; 1,142 mg sodium; 121 mg cholesterol; 16 grams fat; 57 grams carbohydrates; 11 grams protein; 0.43 gram fiber.

Cracklings

Cut fat off any fresh uncooked pork, ham or roast. Cut fat into very small cubes. Fry over low heat until fat has rendered, and cracklings are golden brown. Do not burn. Drain off fat.

PEACH COBBLER 1 cup sugar 1 tablespoon cornstarch or 2 tablespoons flour 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted 2 1/2 cups drained canned or fresh sliced peaches Prepared pastry dough for 2-crust (9-inch) pie 1 egg, lightly beaten

Mix sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg and cinnamon together in large bowl. Add melted butter and mix well. Fold in peach slices.

Roll 1 crust dough to fit 9-inch pie pan. Spoon in peach filling. Roll remaining dough for top crust. Cover pie with top pastry, fluting edges together. Poke fork holes into top dough, then brush surface with beaten egg. Bake at 350 degrees 45 minutes. Serve hot or cold. Makes 6 servings.

Each serving contains about: 733 calories; 412 mg sodium; 41 mg cholesterol; 42 grams fat; 84 grams carbohydrates; 9 grams protein; 0.4 gram fiber.

MOLASSES CAKE 1 cup butter or margarine 3/4 cup sugar 3 eggs, beaten 1 cup molasses 3 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice or ginger 1 cup milk 1/2 cup raisins

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and molasses. Sift together flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. Alternately beat dry ingredients and milk, little at time, into batter. Mix well. Fold in raisins. Pour into greased 9x5-inch loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees 1 hour and 10 minutes or until wood pick inserted in center comes out clean (loosely cover with foil if top is browning too fast). Makes 12 servings.

Each serving contains about: 401 calories; 194 mg sodium; 96 mg cholesterol; 17 grams fat; 63 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 0.18 gram fiber.