Bound to the Fire: How Virginia’s Enslaved Cooks Helped Invent American Cuisine

Timely and extremely relevant to the current cultural and political climate. A slim, attractive volume – I only wish there was more! In the deft grasp of Dr. Deetz, the magnifying glass used to examine the past becomes a mirror reflecting our practices and attitudes today. Supported by rich and eclectic primary resources, Deetz skillfully traces the thread of a culture obscured. Although the overall tone is academic, the format remains as accessible to the layman as it is familiar to the scholar. As a proud Virginian of many generations, I can only describe the journey through Bound to the Fire as one of self-discovery. BTTF reframes my understanding of my own family traditions, re-shaping the landscape with new perspective of the architectural features and the patterns of living – and foodways – in my community. I feel closer to my own past through hearinng the stories of previously uncredited artisans, laborers, and hosts. Ardently held notions of Southern food culture, etiquette, and hospitality take on a new richness and texture derived from authentic understanding deployed in Deetz’s paradigm shifting narrative - that Black history and culture *is* American history and culture, from the very beginning. I await hungrily to devour Deetz’s next missive, confident she will continue to lift the veil of collective memory and reveal more of our own selves.

Enlightening and educational book about a subject that is overlooked in the discussion about enslavement. The cooks on the plantations worked as hard as those working in the fields. Great job done by the author in exploring another aspect of life on a plantation.

This scholar fills the often overlooked and misinterpreted space of the kitchen with life and meaning. An excellent work to add to any library that honors those whose labor laid the very foundation of everything in this nation: the African slave.

Great

Excellent exploration of the hidden figures and the cuisine they introduced in Colonial and Antebellum South. The use of historical documents and archaeology illuminate the lives of the men and women who served others in Southern kitchens. Life was not easy.

This book is a well written part of American history, I truly enjoy this work.

What a great read...definitely learned a lot and I love how it explained a lot of historical pieces us Virginians may take for granted.

I learned a great deal about the inter-relationships between the enslaved and the enslavers, and the food ways shared between them. A thoughtful and sobering read about this important dynamic in the USA.