New Orleans Cook Book (Lena Richard)

Dover Publications, New York, 1985. Softcover. 

A rare copy of the 1985 reprinting of Lena Richard’s groundbreaking cookbook. First self-published as Lena Richard’s Cook Book in 1939 and republished by Houghton Mifflin as New Orleans Cook Book in 1940, the book collects more than 300 recipes drawn from Richard’s deep knowledge of Creole cooking.

Richard spent her life cooking, teaching, and championing Creole cuisine in New Orleans and beyond at a time when the country’s most celebrated culinary voices were overwhelmingly white. Through her cooking school, restaurants, writing, and later her pioneering work in television, she asserted both her own expertise and the central role of Black cooks in shaping New Orleans cuisine. Her commitment to education and her public claiming of Creole cuisine left a lasting mark on the food culture of New Orleans and on American cooking more broadly.

Cover has light shelf wear and sun yellowing on back. Interior pages are bright and clean. A little glue seepage from binding along gutter at first and last pages.