80+ comfort-filled recipes that trace the roots of modern California soul food to the Great Migration—from the acclaimed chef and author of Brown Sugar Kitchen.
 
“The new California Cuisine is California Soul.”—Questlove
 
“California Soul is a book that will live on my kitchen counter with drips of California olive oil and splats of buttermilk on every page.”—Bobby Flay

Through more than 80 seasonally inspired recipes, Tanya Holland’s California Soul showcases modern soul food from the acclaimed chef of Brown Sugar Kitchen and host of Tanya’s Kitchen Table. Tanya’s inventive cuisine—rooted in a Black Southern cultural repertoire with a twenty-first-century sensibility using local, sustainable, chef-driven, seasonal ingredients—is showcased in recipes for every season, such as Collard Green Tabbouleh, Zucchini–Scallion Waffles with Toasted Pecan Romesco, Grilled Shrimp and Corn with Avocado White BBQ Sauce, Fried Chicken Paillards with Arugula and Pea Shoots Salad, Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake, and Honey Lavender Chess Pie. 

The recipes—influenced by the historical migration of African American families, including Tanya’s own—reveal the key ingredients, techniques, and traditions that African Americans brought with them as they left the South for California, creating a beloved version of soul food. Beyond recipes, Tanya spotlights fifteen contemporary Black Californian foodmakers—farmers, coffee roasters, and other talented artisans—whose work help defines California soul food, with stunning portraiture and stories. Filtered through the rich history of African American migration that brought her own family from the Deep South to the West Coast, Tanya’s recipes are as comforting and delicious as they are steeped in history.

BIO

Acclaimed for her inventive take on modern soul food, as well as comfort classics, Tanya Holland is the Executive Chef/Owner of the internationally renowned and beloved Brown Sugar Kitchen restaurant, in Oakland, California.

The author of The Brown Sugar Kitchen Cookbook and New Soul Cooking, Holland competed on the 15th season of Top Chef on Bravo, was the host and soul food expert on Food Network’s Melting Pot, she appears on the new HBO Max show Selena + Chef featuring Selena Gomez, and is the host of “Tanya’s Kitchen Table” on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.

She is a member of the Board of Trustees, a frequent contributing writer and chef at the James Beard Foundation, and Brown Sugar Kitchen (Oakland, CA) has received multiple Michelin Bib Gourmand awards. She is an in-demand public speaker and lecturer who frequently leads the conversation on inclusion and equity in the hospitality industry.

Holland leads a critically-acclaimed podcast “Tanya’s Table” produced by MuddHouse Media, interviewing many celebrity guests in Season One such as Questlove, Samin Nosrat, Alice Waters, Danny Meyer, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Bassem Youssef, and Carla Hall. Season Two of “Tanya’s Table” features special guests Ayesha Curry, Danny Glover, Bonnie Raitt, Phil Rosenthal, Lars Ulrich, Lizz Wright, Ericka Huggins, Jonny Moseley, and others.

Holland has served as the president of the prestigious Les Dames d’Escoffier San Francisco chapter.. The City of Oakland declared June 5th, 2012 as Tanya Holland Day for her "Significant Role in Creating Community and Establishing Oakland as a Culinary Center".

Holland holds a Bachelor of Arts in Russian Language and Literature from the University of Virginia, as well as a Grande Diplôme from La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine in Burgundy, France.

REVIEWS

“The new California Cuisine is California Soul. Tanya Holland’s cookbook spotlights seasonal recipes featuring California’s finest ingredients, along with a guide to Black-owned food businesses operated by entrepreneurs who are bringing innovation to agriculture on the West Coast.” --Questlove

“If there is a person who defines California Soul it is Chef Tanya Holland. . . . 
she lives and breathes the lexicon of African American cuisine into her craft and graciously into this work of art.” --Kwame Onwuachi, James Beard award–winning chef and author

“A feast for the eye, the spirit, the mind, and the belly.” --Natalie Baszile, author of Queen Sugar and We Are Each Other’s Harvest

[H]  Ten Speed Press  /  October 25, 2022

1.25 lbs 256 pages