This week’s Weekend Reading Rack is Watermelon and Redbirds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth in Black Celebrations by Nicole A. Taylor. Black Americans have officially celebrated Freedom From Slavery since 1866, and food and drink have always played a huge role in those festivities. The recipes in this cookbook bridge some of those African-American culinary traditions and modern flavors, like red drinks which are at the heart of Juneteenth celebrations across the country today.
Historians trace the drink’s origins to West Africa, where people made red teas from hibiscus flowers, but as Africans were forced to new parts of the world through the transatlantic slave trade, they took red drinks with them and altered the recipes based on new native plants in America. The hibiscus flower was replaced with berries in the South and cherries in the Mid-Atlantic. Today, there are tons of red drink recipes you can make. Watermelon and Redbirds includes nine to celebrate Juneteenth, like this Afro Egg Cream which combines red drink flavors with a classic drugstore drink.