Celebrating With Passion, Style and Grace
One of the most charming and warm-hearted holiday books is AFRICAN-AMERICAN HOLIDAY TRADITIONS: Celebrating With Passion, Style and
Grace. Antoinette Broussard has put together a cornucopia of tips on
cooking, decorating, party ideas and religious observance, all from an
African-American point of view.
"I wrote the book to document the bonds and values that we got from our
culture that sustain us," said Broussard, who runs a California-based
protocol and etiquette consulting firm when she isn't writing. "When I asked people to talk about their traditions, I wanted to show how important love was in their families."
In addition to suggestions for Kwanzaa feasts, Easter meals, Juneteenth
celebrations, New Orleans-style balls and birthday parties, the book is
packed with brief interviews with notable African-American actors, singers, clergymen, musicians, designers, politicians and entrepeneurs such as: Paula & Denzel Washington, Nancy Wilson, Leola Higgs-Dellums, Margot Dashiell, Sheila Frazier, Cheryl R. Wiley and Father J Matthews (the first black Catholic priest in northern California).
The recipes range from "Jamon en Dulce" to "Red Fried Tomatoes" to
"Southern Cream Cheese Pound Cake." (Gotta go, I'm gettin' hungry).