From Offal to Delicious: A Short Journey Down an African American Foodway

From the Middle Passage, through slavery, reconstruction, the civil rights movement, and the Great Migration, food has been more than a source of nourishment of the African American experience—it has been comfort, tradition, income, as well as a means of resistance. Glenda Armand guides us on this journey. Along the way, we meet Hercules, George Washington’s enslaved cook; Augustus Jackson, an ice cream entrepreneur; Chef Lena Richard, the first African American woman to have her own TV show in New Orleans; and Georgia Gilmore, whose cooking sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Glenda also shares a little of her own experience on the journey from Offal to Delicious.

Glenda was born in New Orleans, famous for its cuisine. Before her first birthday, Glenda's family moved to Los Angeles, where she grew up. However, the food her mother cooked was pure Louisiana. Glenda became a teacher and school librarian in public and private schools. She fulfilled her lifelong dream of becoming an author of over a dozen books for children for publishers including Scholastic and Random House. Black-Eyed Peas and Hoghead Cheese: A Story of Food, Family and Freedom, and Ice Cream Man: How Augustus Jackson Made a Sweet Treat Better focused on food. While not professing any particular expertise in the kitchen, Glenda loves the topic of culinary history.

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Host or Publisher Los Angeles Public Library