Bouki Fait Gombo: A History of the Slave Community of Habitation Haydel (Whitney Plantation) Louisiana, 1750–1860 by Ibrahima Seck (review)

For those who haven’t visited the Whitney Plantation just outside of New Orleans, it is not representative of the hoop-skirted, mint-julep stereotype. Nor is Ibrahima’s book. Rather, the story of the Habitation Haydel is told from the perspective of its slaves. And Seck’s finely researched book provides a narrative history of that plantation, its slave community, and the culinary and cultural productions they created.