B Smith A Culinary Legend And Hero

Chef and hero usually are not used in the same sentence but that is how Barbara B Smith can be described as. This ground breaking and legendary chef  has been dealing with Alzheimer's disease for the past few years. Her recipe books from twenty years ago are still as relevant and fresh as they were then.

I became aware of the story from this week's People Magazine. They ran the story of her and her husband's controversial relationship with another chef. See beyond that and what B.Smith contributions to to the cooking world. Barbara Smith was a top model in the Seventies, gracing Mademoiselle , Ebony and Essence Magazines. Later she was the face of Oil Of Olay, and at the same time creating amazing dishes and running much loved restaurants. She learned from her mother and  grandmother in the kitchen of their Everson, PA home . As for running a restaurant, it was gut instinct  - not a business degree that propelled her.She was the first black woman to sit on the board of  The Culinary Institute of America or the CIA. There was even going to be a TV show much in the style of Martha Stewart Living. Ms. Smith was really a prototype for today's super models who go off into various businesses after they tire of the catwalk.

Chef Smith's cookbooks can be found on Amazon. There is B. Smith's Entertaining and Cooking for Friends (Artisan Publishers 1995) which has party plans for all sorts of gathering from picnics on the beach to Kwanzaa/ holiday dinners. It can definitely be used today as a template for all sorts of dinners and dos. Four years later she wrote Rituals And Celebrations which incorporates African-American celebrations such as a Juneteenth celebration and a bid whist card party. There are recipes for a Thanksgiving  jerked roast turkey and a Christmas fondue party. There is also B. Smith Cooks Southern-Style  (Scribner Publishing 2009) has a plethora of good Southern recipes that can be recreated in any kitchen. There is the spicy Kentucky Burgoo, Frogmore Stew, a kind of South Carolingian jambalaya and Bananas Foster, a New Orleans dessert staple. Any of her books should be in a home chef's cookbook library.

Illness may have clouded B Smith's life, but it didn't diminish her legacy. Her recipes shine bright and will shine bright for decades to come. She will always be a trailblazer in American cooking.