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Quote by Verta Mae Smart-Grosvenor

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The Black Woman: An Anthology

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Verta Mae Smart-Grosvenor

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“Dad never praised my cooking or complained about it, either. So I always thought cooking was like putting on your socks, say, or opening a window - nothing special. But now that I had a girlfriend I realized that if you fed a woman good food she'd be yours forever, and was kind of upset with Dad for not telling me something so important.”

“Big Ma never made quick-fast-in-a-hurry food. She made food that needed washing before it touched a knife, pot, or pan. Or she made beans that soaked overnight and simmered with neck bones for a good part of the next day. And stewed meat in heavy enamel pots, with bay leaves and carrots and potatoes that soaked up gravy. Big Ma cooked food meant to stick to your insides and keep your belly full. She cooked food that took time.”

“Something must be said for childhood favourites where, as adults, we take a bite and are instantly transported back to lunch in Nana's kitchen or a family Christmas dinner. We find fondness in home-cooked, comfort food where the 'comfort' is mostly reminiscence.”

“When they heard that someone was full figured and liked cooking & eating, most men imagined someone who was quiet and domestic; someone whose interior life would not surpass their own. But did that reasoning really hold up? Eating was fundamentally an individual and egoistic compulsion... a gourmand was ultimately a seeker of the truth. You could wrap up their mission in all kinds of fancy language, but it was simply confronting their desires day in and day out. As you learn to cook, you become increasingly able to shut out the outside world and create a fortress within your own spirit. You hunted down your prey using fire and blade to fashion them down into the form you desired... it takes a deathly earnestness to remain faithful to your desires at all times.”