A Seat At The Welcome Table

James Beard Award-winning author Toni Tipton-Martin talks about her new cookbook and moving to Baltimore.

- Cynthia Glover

A NEWLY MINTED BALTIMOREAN has moved to town just in time to launch her latest book, Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking. Originally from Los Angeles, James Beard Award-winning author and activist Toni Tipton-Martin is now neck-deep in renovations to the Charles Village rowhouse she shares with her husband, Bruce.

“We always wanted to live in this part of the country, but, in some ways, it’s been a tough transition,” Tipton-Martin says of the move from her most recent home in Denver. “We have been suburban dwellers for many years.” Yet she is drawn to the vitality of her new neighborhood. “This rowhouse, the vibrancy and energy, the artistic expression, people who are open-minded—it is so conducive to my work.”