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Bound to the
Fire: How Virginia’s Enslaved Cooks Helped Invent American
Cuisine
by Kelley Fanto Deetz
c.2017, University of Kentucky Press
$29.95 / higher in Canada
177 pages
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Truth Contributor
You’ve been cooking up a storm for days.
Soon, the whole family will be sitting at your table, which
will be loaded down with everybody’s favorites. The turkey
will be golden. The bread, warm and soft. Pies line your
kitchen counter because you’ve cooked for days. At least, as
you’ll see in Bound to the Fire by Kelley Fanto
Deetz, you didn’t cook ‘round the clock, too.
Most of us, says Deetz, are used to seeing black faces on
boxes of our breakfast foods. We might not notice them much
anymore but those trademarked figures hide an often
misunderstood truth.
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The “black community” in Virginia, says Deetz, “is almost as
old as the colony itself.” In 1619, some 20 “negroes” lived
in Jamestown; by 1625, there were 23 “Africans” in all of
Virginia. Once slavery took firm hold in the state, there
were tens of thousands of enslaved people but Deetz focuses
on cooks, beginning with plantation homes.
As slavery expanded, kitchens began to be set apart from the
main house, probably because white plantation owners didn’t
want slaves under their roofs. For enslaved cooks and their
families, that was both good and bad: more privacy was
gained by living in the building where the kitchen was, and
accommodations were usually larger than in the slave cabins
– but that proximity meant that cooks were constantly
on-call.
It took “a network of enslaved folks” to put food on the
table, not only in growing the food, but also in what may
have been a house-staff of dozens. Cooks cooked, but they
were also bakers, butchers, brewers, distillers, and
sometimes, laundresses. A cook was likely taught to read and
do “basic math,” and she (sometimes, he) taught kitchen
chores to new slaves. Despite a constant likelihood of abuse
and brutality, cooks often had surprising power over their
mistresses and may’ve even negotiated their own
circumstances.
And if things went really bad, there was always the
danger-filled chance for a cook to tamper with the food…
There are, as author Kelley Fanto Deetz indicates in her
introduction, several myths and misunderstandings related to
enslaved cooks. There were, until now, many unknowns.
Bound to the Fire sets things straight, but cooking
isn’t the only focus here.
What would “Southern hospitality” be without the influence
of enslaved cooks? Not much, as Deetz indicates – and
Southern architecture would be the lesser, too. Using
documents and research, Deetz explains how this is so, which
leads to a fascinating look at day-to-day work of Virginia
cooks, the power they wielded, and how they influenced what
you’ll eat this holiday season. You’ll come to eagerly
anticipate those tales, and they serve to underscore Deetz’s
final point: Americans must look beyond stereotypes and be
mindful of those who literally nourished a nation.
Be aware that this is not a cookbook. Instead, this is a
book of history and a chance to set it straight. Yes, there
are old-timey half-recipes in here but really, Bound to
the Fire is meant for opening eyes, rather than mouths.
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