Set in 1978 L.A., this is a witty, warmhearted portrayal of Creole family life. Debut novel.

Incorporating stories from restaurateur Lucy Buffett's childhood growing up in Mobile, Alabama, adventures traveling the seas as a cook, time spent working as a chef in New Orleans, and her philosophy of relaxation, gratitude, and seizing the day, this cookbook entertains and inspires as it serves up recipe after recipe, each tastier than the last. "A delicious love letter to the Gulf Coast's vibrant food culture." Since she was a young girl, Lucy Buffett has believed in the power of gumbo-the stirring, the transformation of the roux, the simple ingredients cooking up into something much better than just the sum of its parts. It's only fitting that she signs her name "with Gumbo Love" and that she makes a living feeding people the most delicious, soul-satisfying food. Her new cookbook, Gumbo Love, is a labor of love and includes recipes from all over the Gulf Coast. The dishes incorporate Caribbean, Cajun, Cuban, Mexican, Old Florida, and Creole influences. Lucy proves through her collection of recipes that the Gulf Coast has its own distinct flavors and traditions that make it a coastal destination year after year. And with some of the best seafood and produce the country has to offer, the Gulf Coast-beyond just New Orleans-has a vibrant cuisine and culture, making it a treasured culinary destination in its own right. Lucy combines over one hundred new recipes with old favorites. She lives by her mother's philosophy: "Life is short-eat dessert first," so the very first chapter is filled with delectable sweets like Classic Southern Pound Cake with Strawberries, Buttermilk Orange Chess Pie, and Salted Butterscotch Blondies. Since you can't live on dessert alone, you'll find Gulf Coast favorites from Tailgate Shrimp and Crab Dip to Lucy's Signature Summer Seafood Gumbo, and Crab and Corn Fritters, along with dozens of other seafood appetizers and main dishes. And if you tire of seafood, Lucy shares her family favorites like Daddy's Fried Chicken, Beer-Braised Beef Brisket, Southern Fried Creamed Corn, and Greens and Grits.

When Camille and her two teenage daughters fled New Orleans for the island of Little Gale off the coast of Maine, the islanders were initially more suspicious than welcoming. Twenty-five years later, Camille's Creole restaurant, The Little Gale Gumbo Café, has become an island staple-as has the legacy of her romance with islander Ben Haskell. Camille and Ben, along with their children, created a new family unit with a seemingly unbreakable bond. But when Ben is found unconscious in his home, next to the body of Camille's estranged husband, old secrets and suspicions reemerge, and the family must reunite to hope for Ben's survival. But as revelations come to the surface, so do long-held secrets that will test the limits and definitions of family.

Rhyming text describes the ingredients that go into Grandma's gumbo. Includes a recipe for Louisiana gumbo.

A literary rent party to benefit the Hurston/Wright Foundation of African-American fiction, with selections to savor from bestselling authors as well as talented rising stars. Not since Terry McMillan’s Breaking Ice have so many African-American writers been brought together in one volume. A stellar collection of works from more than fifty hot names in fiction, Gumbo represents remarkable synergy. Edited by bestselling luminaries Marita Golden and E. Lynn Harris, this collection spans new and previously published tales of love and luck, inspiration and violation, hip new worlds and hallowed heritage from voices such as: • Edwidge Danticat • Eric Jerome Dickey • Kenji Jasper • John Edgar Wideman • Terry McMillan • David Anthony Durham • Bertice Berry …and many, many more Also featuring original stories by Golden and Harris themselves, Gumbo heralds the debut of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards for Published Black Writers (scheduled for October 2002), and all advances and royalties from the book will support the Hurston/Wright Foundation. Combining authors with a variety of flavorful writing, Gumbo will have readers clamoring for second helpings.

Gumbo Ya Ya, Aurielle Marie’s stunning debut, is a cauldron of hearty poems exploring race, gender, desire, and violence in the lives of Black gxrls, soaring against the backdrop of a contemporary South. These poems are loud, risky, and unapologetically rooted in the glory of Black gxrlhood. The collection opens with a heartrending indictment of injustice. What follows is a striking reimagination of the world, one where no Black gxrl dies “by the barrel of the law” or “for loving another Black gxrl.” Part familial archival, part map of Black resistance, Gumbo Ya Ya catalogs the wide gamut of Black life at its intersections, with punching cultural commentary and a poetic voice that holds tenderness and sharpness in tandem. It asks us to chew upon both the rich meat and the tough gristle, and in doing so we walk away more whole than we began and thoroughly satisfied. Excerpt from “transhistorical for the x in my gxrls” What I mean is, this country is mine if only because from my mouth I spit its loam and unspun a noose. I won’t exploit the only metaphor they gave us willingly, and instead hunt for other vicious things to make a muse. I earned this country. I owe it nothing. With my infinite, infant hand, I manipulated a death sentence into a compound-complex one. from the umbilical, I bled a life worth writing down and in a century’s time, there will be another word created still for the weeping magic of this same story: a Black gxrl’s first breath.

From the critically acclaimed author of "The Africa Cookbook" come 175 vibrant recipes that redefine Creole cooking, the original fusion food. Two-color throughout. 25 photos.