Soul food is a cuisine originated by African Americans of the Southern United States during the American civil war. Not all Southern food is considered soul food, however, and shouldn’t be likened to American Southern cuisine. To many people, it is a basic home cooking tradition passed down for generations.

Soul food has a very fascinating story, as it was born from the millions of African Americans who experienced horrible suffering and enslavement, but still managed to create one of America’s earliest fusion cuisines.

History Of Survival

The cuisine was born during the period of American slavery in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Slaves learned to make the most of what they had in order to survive. African slaves were given only the leftover and ‘undesirable’ cuts of meat from their masters to eat. Most of them planted vegetables on their own to add to their scarce dishes, if you could call them that. Given that it was forbidden for the slaves to learn how to read and write, the recipes were passed down orally from person to person.

According to renowned soul food chef Marcus Samuelsson: “This diet was not culinary refinement but instead a means of survival. Many were given only corn, flour, molasses and salt. Protein was acquired by what was left over: livers, chitins and fatback; and the vegetables they ate were those they grew for themselves on smaller plots of land: okra, greens, and corn. Oils and butter were also inaccessible, so lard and other animal fats were used for frying, baking and cooking.” This shows that they had creative solutions, perseverant ideas, and were not about to give up just yet.

After slavery, many, being poor, could only afford off-cuts and internal organs of meat. Farming, fishing and hunting rodents, such as squirrels, rabbits and, sometimes, even waterfowl were their only way to stay alive.

Variety Of Cuisine

“These dishes were no longer eaten out of necessity but out of habit and tradition, granted with improvements made along the way,” adds Marcus Samuelsson. When slavery was finally over, new and large communities were built. Soon enough, food traditions and recipes became a culinary heritage.

Just as any other group, African Americans celebrate their culture and heritage through holidays and common experiences. A time of strong advocacy of black cultural identity took place in the 1960s, in which the main goal was to bring together African Americans, regardless of geography and class. During the rise of the civil rights and Black Nationalism movements, the term “soul food” was coined, along with soul music, soul sister, and many other unifying terms. Perhaps they saw food as a connector, as it was the only thing that was not taken away from them during the dark periods of slavery.

Modern Soul Food

Many point out that soul food wasn’t all about chicken and pork leftovers, but about a traditional diet of their ancestors, using greens such as okra, peas, other vegetables, and fish. Derived from its dark history of slaves having a hard time to find food, soul food can thus mean any dishes eaten to survive. By surviving to keep your stomach full, you’re letting your soul live on and endure any hardships in life. Of course, soul food is also about the organic ingredients, the style of cooking, and the process of cooking food from scratch.

Today’s soul food can be described as consisting of traditional soul food recipes that use less cholesterol, salt, sugar and fats. While some might be sceptical about the rise of soul food vegan cuisine, it can also be argued that in this day and age, the effort of staying healthy can also mean survival.

“Vegan and vegetarian soul food are often cast as a complete departure of the traditional cuisine, but the focus on vegetables closely aligns with how African Americans ate during slavery and Reconstruction,” states Adrian Miller, award-winning author of Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time.

Soul food is not only to remember the African Americans, since every ethnic group has what it calls “soul food”. From this perspective, soul food is about celebrating the enjoyment of home cooking, and the memories and stories we have at home with our family.

Celebration

There are many ways to commemorate soul food. Technically speaking, soul food celebration is to honour the contributions of the people who started the soul food movement, as well as African American chefs. Nevertheless, it can also be a celebration reminding anyone of their home. With this in mind, here are some of the ways to celebrate this tradition:

1. Going to your local African-American restaurants
2. Enjoying eating a meal with your family
3. Passing down recipes to someone orally
4. Cooking soul food recipes: pour you heart and soul into the cooking, and spice it up with all the happy memories of your family. That’s what soul food is really all about: when it brings the family together and makes it stronger by eating familiar foods we hold close to our hearts.

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