A Fine dessert-- A book Good Enough to Eat

      In the process of reporting on food books for the class I am taking on non-fiction picture books taught by the awesome Candice Ransom, I found one book that is good enough to eat--A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat written by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Sophie Blackall.  The book depicts four different families making blackberry fool in four different centuries, 1710, 1810, 1910 and 2010.   

      The concept is simple and straightforward and at the same time sophisticated and elegant.  First the book demonstrates how cooking technology has changed over time.  The first family beats cream with a bundle of sticks, the next with a wire whisk, the next with a manual egg beater, and the last with an electric mixer.  Emily Jenkins tells us exactly how long it takes to make whipped cream with each implement.

      More importantly, however, the author and illustrator depict changes in social structure and gender roles.  In 1710 a girl and her mother make the dessert.  In 1810 in Charleston an enslaved girl and her mother make the dessert and lick the bowl in secret.  In 2010 a boy and his father make the dessert together, and a mixed race family joins them for dinner.  This apparently simple book describes beautifully how change happens over time in domestic spaces that are not usually thought of as places where history happens. 

      The writing is full of sensuous details.  For example: “Their hands turned purple with the juice.  The thorns of the berry bushes pricked the fabric of their long skirts.”  Sophie Blackall’s illustrations remind me of 19th century primitive portraits and needlework.  The twirling blackberry vines frame vignettes of cooking, and the end pages are actually painted a luscious dark purple using actual blackberry juice.