"Norma Jean Darden went from fashion model to food maven, bringing her family's country cooking to the big city. Now she has two thriving restaurants and a catering business that's made her the secret weapon of some of New York's saviest party-givers."
     Oprah Magazine, Lisa Kogen

About Spoonbread
     Spoonbread's restaurants -- Miss Mamies at 110th Street near Columbia University; and Miss Maudes at 547 Lenox Avenue in Harlem -- serve reasonably priced, home-made cooking in comfortable surroundings.
    Spoonbread Catering is a full service caterer, offering various types of upscale cuisine for elegant corporate events, weddings and parties.

Norma Jean Darden
      A leading New York fashion model, Norma Jean Darden graced the pages of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Mademoiselle, Essence & Italian Vogue(among others) and the runways of Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Givenchy and Issey Miyaki. At a party, an editor for Vogue suggested she write a cookbook -- reasoning that since she was from the south (and black) she must have some great family recipes.

       A model starving to keep her figure, writing a cookbook? Norma thought she was joking. Until the editor called with a publisher for the book, followed by a reporter from the Times who wanted to write a feature.
      "I might not know anything about cooking, but as a model and an actress, I had enough sense to do whatever it took to get into the New York Times," Norma recalls.

The Cookbook
      She planned to write about the buttermilk biscuits, fried chicken and sweet potato pie she remembered fondly from childhood family gatherings, but soon realized she hadn't a clue about how to make them.
      So she joined forces with her sister (and co-author) Carole and the two traveled south -- interviewing relatives and collecting the (now best-selling) bookful of recipes and memories, called "Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine; Recipes and Reminiscences of a Family,." In the process, they realized that cooking became the key to their family history.

Recipes(click to view)
       "Oral history is fragile and should be made concrete by all methods available," Norma advises. So "get those recipes before time erases the memories."