From KCRW, I'm Evan Kliman, and you're listening to good food.

I agree wholeheartedly with what Alice Waters writes in her forward to Tanya Holland's California Soul,

recipes from a culinary journey west.

She says, I may never make these great dishes,

but I will reread this cookbook for years to come for the stories of incredible

gutsy resourceful intrepid black people who not only came west to California from

the south to begin new lives but continued lives of bravery, will, creativity, and inspiration

for generations following their initial arrival here and continuing to this day.

Tanya Holland is the living embodiment of California's soul

and I'm happy to get to spend some time with her this morning.

Hi Tanya.

Hi Evan, how are you? I'm great. It's so wonderful to have you. I would love it if you

would tell us a bit about your own personal story, your family's personal story, between

1916 and 1970, six million Southern African Americans migrated out of the southern states into urban centers in the

north and west in two different waves. Tell us about where your relatives are from

and any memories you might have of returning to visit those

who elected to stay behind.

Absolutely.

Yeah, so you know my maternal side of the family is from Louisiana and my

grandmother I know was born in 1916. I can't remember when my grandfather was born. He was a little bit older and she had,

oof, a bunch of siblings. I know she had at least four sisters and they all migrated west.

She was the only one who stayed in Shreveport, Louisiana.

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