Whispered Season’s Greetings
Join those of us who invite ancestors to our kitchens and add this treasure to your holiday gift list.
I spoke to my circle of invisible kitchen ancestors recently, after placing Praisesong For the Kitchen Ghosts on the counter near my chopping block. “Come close Granny, Gran, Mom, Aunt Lya,” I said to the family cooks I’ve long described as always close by when I’m in my kitchen, even though I no longer see them physically.
“Say hello to Crystal Wilkinson’s ancestors,” I whispered to my invisible kitchen companions. “They completely understand us.”
Crystal Wilkinson, Kentucky’s former poet laureate (2021-2023), an award-winning writer (see sources), dedicates her inviting culinary memoir to the Kentucky grandparents she knew well, Christine and Silas Wilkinson. And in the dedication, she also includes ancestors such as Grandma Aggy (born in 1795, her fourth-generation grandmother) and Aggy’s daughter, Patsy Riffe (pictured on the cover), ending with the following observation about their reactions when beckoned as ancestors:
“…answer when I call.”
I recognized this as a tradition among my ancestors as well. Yes, they always answer when I call—with whispered reminders, turned cookbook pages and other signs of their presence. And this brought to mind my first step on the kitchen ladder toward one day becoming a “kitchen ghost” for our family’s passed-down recipes. Ready to answer when called.
On that day before my 13th birthday, when my maternal grandmother anointed me “the keeper of the oven flame,” she explained what she considered “the honor and importance” of passing down family recipes.
Noticing me trying to hide teardrops, she smiled before adding:
“…and here’s the secret about being the family cook,” she said, returning the handkerchief to her apron pocket before gently opening and closing the oven door to check on the rolls:
“Family cooks live forever because the memory of good cooks live forever in the family dishes they save and prepare for family celebrations.”
So, to all reading this, here’s your assignment during a time when many of us gather around family tables to celebrate the holidays:
Read this book and pass it on to others for inspiration.
Video those preparing legacy dishes; review and write down the recipes.
When families gather, share family recipes and memories with younger generations who will one day become elders.
Thank you, Crystal Wilkinson, for sharing beautifully written and delicious inspirations from five generations of your family’s Appalachian history.
Sources:
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from
Five Generations of Black Country Cooks by Crystal Wilkinson (Clarkson Potter, 2024).
Books by the writer and poet, Crystal Wilkinson, include: Perfect Black; The Birds of Opulence; Water Street; and Blackberries, Blackberries. See her bio here.
Affrilachia by Frank X Walker (Old Cove Press, 2000). Walker bio and Affrilachia definition and credit.
Victuals: An Appalachian Journey by Ronni Lundy (Clarkson Potter, 2016). Ronni Lundy bio
Thank you for introducing me to concept of Kitchen Ghosts. They are definitely in my kitchen especially this holiday season. I will be making my mother’s English toffee and decorated sugar cookies. My grandmother made pies so beautiful they should be in MOMA but some of her recipes are best to be only remembered - Spring Pick Me Up Jello Salad - 5 layers of different flavors and colors of jello and each with different things mixed in - orange with shredded carrots, lime with mini- marshmallows, cherry with cherries…..I still make and eat oatmeal like my great-grandmother taught me.