Lena Richard's Cook Book

1939

Lena Richard, an African American chef, entrepreneur, and educator, built a dynamic culinary career in the segregated South. She owned and operated catering businesses, eateries, a fine-dining restaurant, a cooking school, and an international frozen food business despite experiencing many class-, race-, and gender-based inequalities. Houghton Mifflin published Richard’s New Orleans Cook Book in 1940, which launched her career as a pioneer in early food TV.