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Cultural Education


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	Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interview Guide: Presenting Your Findings

Frances Hurley documents her mother, Mrs. T.A. "Mamoo" Lewis, making the family's favorite soggy coconut cake. Photograph by Harlan Hambright.

Compile a Family or Community Recipe Book

If you have interviewed your relatives or members of your local community about favorite recipes that have been passed down through the generations, compile a cookbook with the recipes you've collected. Find out information about the ingredients that are used and how and why they may have changed over time and place. Include memories and stories about the cooks and the recipes, and descriptions of the celebrations, rituals, and traditions that are associated with the preparation of these special foods. A good example is Mamoo's Soggy Coconut Cake, a family recipe book compiled by the Lewis family of Knoxville, Tennessee.


	Table of Contents

	Presenting Your Findings

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Mamoo's Soggy Coconut Cake

Mrs. T. A. Lewis of Knoxville, Tennessee, affectionately known as "Mamoo," was celebrated among family and friends for her inimitable soggy coconut cake. "Christmas is not Christmas without Mamoo's coconut cake," said her granddaughter Faye. "That's the way it's been for years and years, as long as I can remember." When Mamoo was 95, her family decided to document her as she made the cake. With a tape recorder, a camera, and plenty of questions, they followed her through the entire process from the selection of a suitable coconut to the presentation of the finished product. Far more than a recipe was recorded. Her family also captured on tape and on film the cherished recollections, stories, traditions, values, and attitudes associated with making the cake. Afterwards, they transcribed the tapes, edited the materials, and printed a 43-page booklet — illustrated with photographs of Mamoo preparing her specialty — which they distributed to relatives, friends, and neighbors.

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