- Joined
- May 12, 2010
- Location
- Now Florida but always a Kentuckian
Malinda Russell was born about 1812 in Tennessee a free woman of color. At age 19 she had decided to move to Liberia. She was robbed of her money in Virginia. She decided to stay in America. She began to work as a cook, companion and laundress in Virginia. She married and had a son who was crippled. After four years her husband died and she returned to Tn. She kept a boarding house for 3 years, than a pastry shop for six years.
In 1864 she was robbed again by a guerrilla party. She never identified them as she was scared for her life. As she said: "Under these circumstances, we were obliged to leave home following a flag of truce out of the Southern borders". She went to Michigan and settled in Paw Paw.
Here she wrote a cookbook called: "A Domestic Cook Book: Containing a Careful Selection of Useful Receipts for the Kitchen". It was printed in 1866. It is suppose to be first cook book from African-American.
Abby Fisher was born in 1832 in South Carolina. She was raised there and was a slave for 30 years. She learned to cook in Plantation Kitchens of South Carolina. She became a very good cook. She married Alexander Fisher and they had eleven children. After the Civil War they moved to Mobile, Alabama. Then in 1877 they relocated to San Francisco. Here she became in high demand as a cook and caterer for the city's upper class. Her reputation as a cook and her award winning delicacies enabled the Fishers to open their own business in San Francisco known as "Mrs. Abby Fisher & Company" and later known as "Mrs. Abby Fisher, Pickle Manufacturer".
Mrs. Fisher blended African and American cultures by combining the foods and spices from two continents. Her unique dishes with their distinctive flavor represented some of the best Southern cooking of the day. At the insistence of friends and patrons she recorded her knowledge and experience of Southern cooking, pickle, and jelly making in a cook book. The recipes had to be written down by others as she dictated them as she could neither read nor write.
In 1881 Abby Fisher's cook book, "What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking, Soups, Pickles, Preserves, Etc," was published.
These are remarkable stories about African-American women of that era who overcame hardship, war and racism of the time to succeed in the businesses they had and publish a cook book.
In 1864 she was robbed again by a guerrilla party. She never identified them as she was scared for her life. As she said: "Under these circumstances, we were obliged to leave home following a flag of truce out of the Southern borders". She went to Michigan and settled in Paw Paw.
Here she wrote a cookbook called: "A Domestic Cook Book: Containing a Careful Selection of Useful Receipts for the Kitchen". It was printed in 1866. It is suppose to be first cook book from African-American.
Abby Fisher was born in 1832 in South Carolina. She was raised there and was a slave for 30 years. She learned to cook in Plantation Kitchens of South Carolina. She became a very good cook. She married Alexander Fisher and they had eleven children. After the Civil War they moved to Mobile, Alabama. Then in 1877 they relocated to San Francisco. Here she became in high demand as a cook and caterer for the city's upper class. Her reputation as a cook and her award winning delicacies enabled the Fishers to open their own business in San Francisco known as "Mrs. Abby Fisher & Company" and later known as "Mrs. Abby Fisher, Pickle Manufacturer".
Mrs. Fisher blended African and American cultures by combining the foods and spices from two continents. Her unique dishes with their distinctive flavor represented some of the best Southern cooking of the day. At the insistence of friends and patrons she recorded her knowledge and experience of Southern cooking, pickle, and jelly making in a cook book. The recipes had to be written down by others as she dictated them as she could neither read nor write.
In 1881 Abby Fisher's cook book, "What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking, Soups, Pickles, Preserves, Etc," was published.
These are remarkable stories about African-American women of that era who overcame hardship, war and racism of the time to succeed in the businesses they had and publish a cook book.