Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Prologue

Part I Servant Problems
One "Look Ma, the Real Aunt Jemima!" Consuming Identities under Capitalism
Two Biscuits Are Being Beaten: Craig Claiborne and the Epistemology of the Kitchen Dominatrix

Part II Soul Food and Black masculinity
Three "Eating Chitterlings Is Like Going Slumming": Soul Food and Its Discontents
Four "Pork or Women": Purity and Danger in the Nation of Islam
Five Of Watermelon and Men: Dick Gregory's Cloacal Continuum

Part III Black Female Hunger
Six "My Kitchen Was the World": Vertamae Smart Grosvenor's Geechee Diaspora
Seven "How Mama Started to Get Large": Eating Disorders, Fetal Rights, and Black Female Appetite

Epilogue
Appendix
African American Cookbooks
Chronological Bibliography of Cookbooks by African Americans
Notes
Works Cited
Index

About the Author

Doris Witt is associate professor of English at the University of Iowa.

Reviews

"What emerges from this deeply critical, at times humorous, foray into African American food history is a theoretical work as sensuous as the subject matter. Witt takes the reader on a journey through popular food discourses and along the way unpacks the signifiers of belonging, resistance, abjection, purity, and lust. Reading Black Hunger, I was reminded that food is not simply good to eat, it is also good to think with."—American Anthropologist"A fascinating look at food’s role in African-American culture."—Chicago Sun-Times"A well-researched and insightful discussion of the creation of mythology about black women and food."—Women’s Review of Books"The work is an impressive collection of cultural artifacts that allow a reader to understand the political implications of purchasing a bottle of Aunt Jemima syrup, or the gender-specific implications that adopting a vegetarian diet may hold for African American women."—MultiCultural Review