Smithsonian's African American Museum cook book captures the soul, history and culture of African Americans, debunks myths about Black culinary traditions
With input and guidance from Hall (who was not at the book signing), the "Sweet Home Café" cookbook offers a historic tour of the African American palette. Sweet Home Café is named after its on-site eatery. A panelist read about how African Americans like their food prepared and it had as much to do with the setting accompanied by emotions as it did with taste alone. There are photos throughout the book to enhance the journey. Many of the contributors were top chefs whose dishes became menu items at the café.
Here I share some of what I learned at the event and historical details about soul food I gained from experience and research.
Background
Background
Soulfood is an integral and intricate part of African American History and culture. The good of African American people is a story of ship stops along the triangular slave trade that transported Africans from various points of the continent to places where new food experiences were created. At each stop new ingredients added to culinary creations and the experience of the people who used them were stirred into the diasporic pot of freedom and survival. Given the "ingredients" of this journey, it is somewhat complicated to answer the question what is soul food? A white woman at the preview event asked for a definition of Soul food. African American panelists and guests scoffed at the question and stirred in their seats and someone on stage quickly retorted, "We don't have time to get into that...that is a long answer." The answer could be as long as the journey itself.
The release of the cookbook treads upon a bit of the complicated response by providing a historic view of the origins of soul food categorized by regions.
On a soul food Facebook page someone posted that soul food is not something Black people should eat because it is "gross" due to it being food that the master's didn't want during slavery. Those who were fortunate to attend this event learned that soul food is so much more than the masters' waste or a symbol of poverty. It is rich in spirit.
The release of the cookbook treads upon a bit of the complicated response by providing a historic view of the origins of soul food categorized by regions.
The true origin of soul food is hard to trace, yet it goes beyond slavery.
It is a myth that it is only through turning the waste from pigs and cows and other animals into something edible is the story of soul food.Farmers, regardless of race, rarely threw anything away. The food of Africans in the US is unique in that regard to some extent because those foods that were considered not good enough to sell at market were to eat by the masters at the masters table were indeed thrown away. This practice continues in slaughter houses today. Animal parts like feet, tails and tongues for example are considered delicacies in various countries and cultures. Oxtails are a prime example. In certain parts of Africa the oxtail is a luxury food and in the Caribbean it is enjoyed as a staple meat. Chicken feet in various Asian cuisines is considered a staple and pork fat would not be left out of many dishes cooked around the world. It is with pride that African Americans took foods that the masters did not want and turned it into something that they enjoyed,. Because they were able to make it into delectable and delightful with the ingredients they have and the spirit in short story our tradition has already that has been passed down as a positive thing that they turned their food into something that they wanted.
"Blackened" foods have been associated with poverty yet what Black people eat and owe the pride they take in preparing it is what has brought richness to the race. It is the idea of taking nothing and making something out of it. This is the essence of soul food. The creativity in Black cuisine has established a global reputation for deliciousness. People seek out the "Black version" of anything from vegetables to dessert.
Slaves ate from the fields in which they worked. Fruits, vegetables, organic, fresh foods that are popular today were always a part of the staple diet of slaves because that is what they could get readily. Yams, greens, corn, tomatoes and okra. It shows up in so many of the foods we eat on Sundays through Saturdays are things that black people ate. Slaves that lived along coastal areas or water banks would have enjoyed seafood-rich diets. Chef and co-author of the museums soul food cookbook described an African American oyster man in DC, how he brought more to the table than just shucking oysters. He helped slaves escape.
Fried chicken originated in China and is said to have a link to West Africa. Blacks may not have invented it but we they it. https://firstwefeast.com/features/2016/04/fried-chicken-illustrated-history
Shellfish in particular has been wrongfully perceived as a food that blacks could not afford to eat. Places like New Orleans, LA and Charleston, SC located by bodies of water where crab and shrimp were accessible as know for dishes that feature shellfish. Whether served as standalone dishes, in rice casseroles, soups and stews, eating shrimp and crab was normal in coastal areas.
Slaves ate from the fields in which they worked. Fruits, vegetables, organic, fresh foods that are popular today were always a part of the staple diet of slaves because that is what they could get readily. Yams, greens, corn, tomatoes and okra. It shows up in so many of the foods we eat on Sundays through Saturdays are things that black people ate. Slaves that lived along coastal areas or water banks would have enjoyed seafood-rich diets. Chef and co-author of the museums soul food cookbook described an African American oyster man in DC, how he brought more to the table than just shucking oysters. He helped slaves escape.
Fried chicken originated in China and is said to have a link to West Africa. Blacks may not have invented it but we they it. https://firstwefeast.com/features/2016/04/fried-chicken-illustrated-history
Shellfish in particular has been wrongfully perceived as a food that blacks could not afford to eat. Places like New Orleans, LA and Charleston, SC located by bodies of water where crab and shrimp were accessible as know for dishes that feature shellfish. Whether served as standalone dishes, in rice casseroles, soups and stews, eating shrimp and crab was normal in coastal areas.
Fishers in Northern, LA would spend hours at lakes and bayous to catch White perch and bring their Catfish, which is found in Georgia, the Carolinas, the Mississippi Delta, in D.C. and throughout the Atlantic was also a common catch on the tables of restaurants and featured in home-cooked meals.
At the museum their best selling menu item is the stuffed flounder fish.
in this cookbook it would seem that the history of soul food as we've known it...its stereotypical if not rooted in myths and details in the book debunk long held beliefs about the African American diet. It is a journey of celebration, of strength, of communing often together and freedom. The freedom comes in as a result of slaves taking the things that they did have, cooking with lots of herbs as it was in Africa the spices came from the field and taking those ingredients creating the kinds of flavors that they really wanted instead of conforming to what was on the masters table. but then when they could get new things incorporating those things from white cooking into black cooking. These practices are what make soul food so unique. They reflect the diversity within the African American experience.
Soul Food is an integral and intricate part of African American history and culture. dr who was one of the people who started the Sweet home café ensure that the history of our food was incorporated properly. I read a piece that she wrote in which the food is not just about being fed, it is a part of our life's experience. And she talked about settings were food we had and the things that we drank with our food. How we felt when ate it. Like any other culture our African American food has an emotional connection but what may bring its distinction the culture of lack derived from slavery. I think what I learned that night is that we cannot no matter how the food evolves or how wealthy black folks get.
We cannot erase the spirit and shouldn't try to but that's the thing you cant erase the spirit from the food and the culture that came out of not having something and making something out of nothing which is so much a part of how black people survived.
in listening to our story, how she described black people from up and down the east coast and the south eating at various places at various times it reminded me of how black music was born. Music form the Soul. African American culture is marked Like black music their was no sheet music when it comes to soul food, black food. There was no cookbook. They were traditions that were passed down by memory. Black cooks follow family e move on instinct. Every once in a while there may be a deviation that gives a new twist but true soul food does not drift from what the essence of what was handed down. And that is now why you people talking in variations of soul food. When you describe the blue-eyed soul food. If white folks are cooking or nouveau soul, if it gets to be a little to gourmet.
Another notion that was debunked is that all our foods are deep fried and unhealthy. By the very nature of what we had and how we had to cook I believe the foods were nutrient rich from the descriptions that I have and that the idea of having to pack salt on to everything because that may have been all that we had does not bear out in the recipes in this book. So it is a way of continuing traditions and learning more. Maybe adding recipes and venturing out on a new destination for Sunday dinner at the table with friends and family.
Soul Food is an integral and intricate part of African American history and culture. dr who was one of the people who started the Sweet home café ensure that the history of our food was incorporated properly. I read a piece that she wrote in which the food is not just about being fed, it is a part of our life's experience. And she talked about settings were food we had and the things that we drank with our food. How we felt when ate it. Like any other culture our African American food has an emotional connection but what may bring its distinction the culture of lack derived from slavery. I think what I learned that night is that we cannot no matter how the food evolves or how wealthy black folks get.
We cannot erase the spirit and shouldn't try to but that's the thing you cant erase the spirit from the food and the culture that came out of not having something and making something out of nothing which is so much a part of how black people survived.
in listening to our story, how she described black people from up and down the east coast and the south eating at various places at various times it reminded me of how black music was born. Music form the Soul. African American culture is marked Like black music their was no sheet music when it comes to soul food, black food. There was no cookbook. They were traditions that were passed down by memory. Black cooks follow family e move on instinct. Every once in a while there may be a deviation that gives a new twist but true soul food does not drift from what the essence of what was handed down. And that is now why you people talking in variations of soul food. When you describe the blue-eyed soul food. If white folks are cooking or nouveau soul, if it gets to be a little to gourmet.
Another notion that was debunked is that all our foods are deep fried and unhealthy. By the very nature of what we had and how we had to cook I believe the foods were nutrient rich from the descriptions that I have and that the idea of having to pack salt on to everything because that may have been all that we had does not bear out in the recipes in this book. So it is a way of continuing traditions and learning more. Maybe adding recipes and venturing out on a new destination for Sunday dinner at the table with friends and family.
The book is available online "Sweet Home Café". before I end I also learned that the group from Lois Gonzales that the restaurant is actually a part of the restaurant group which is home of world famous chef Wolfgang Puck