Soul food

Soul food

Soul food is an American cuisine, a selection of foods, and is the traditional cuisine of African-Americans of the Southern United States and of black communities beyond. In the mid-1960s, "soul" was a common adjective used to describe black culture, and thus the name "soul food" was derived.


The term "soul food" became popular in the 1960s, when the word "soul" became used in connection with most things African American. The origins of soul food, however, are much older and can be traced back to Africa. Many culinary historians believe that in the beginning of the 14th century, around the time of early African exploration, European explorers brought their own food supplies and introduced them into the African diet. Foods such as turnips from Morocco and cabbage from Spain would play an important part in the history of African American cuisine.

When the European slave trade began in the early 1400s, the diet of newly enslaved Africans changed on the long journeys from their homeland. It was during this time that some of the indigenous crops of Africa began showing up in the slaves' new home in the Americas.

As slaves, African Americans would "make do" with the ingredients at hand. The fresh vegetables found in Africa were replaced by the throwaway foods from the plantation house. Their vegetables were the tops of turnips and beets and dandelions. Soon they were cooking with new types of greens: collards, kale, cress, mustard, and pokeweed. African American slaves also developed recipes which used discarded meat from the plantation, such as pig’s feet, beef tongue or tail, ham hocks, chitterlings (pig small intestines), pig ears, hog jowls, tripe and skin. Cooks added onions, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf to enhance the flavors. Many African Americans depended on catching their own meat, and wild game such as raccoon, opossum, turtle, and rabbit was, until the 1950s, very popular fare on the African American table.

There was little waste in the traditional African American kitchen. Leftover fish became croquettes (by adding an egg, cornmeal or flour, seasonings which were breaded and deep-fried). Stale bread became bread pudding, and each part of the pig had its own special dish. Even the liquid from cooked greens, called potlikker, was consumed as a type of gravy, or drink.

After long hours of labor, the evening meal was a time for families to get together, and the tradition of communal meals was the perfect environment for conversation and the reciting of oral history and storytelling. Another tradition was the potluck dinner, with each family member bringing a different dish to the dinner. When it was their families' turn for a visit by the preacher, it was also common practice for African-American women to hold up Sunday lunches or dinners until he arrived. If the minister frequently graced one's family table, then that conferred upon the family a degree of prestige in the eyes of the congregation. The tradition of extended family, friends and neighbors gathering at one woman's household at Christmas and Thanksgiving because of her status as a cook also began with the preacher's approval. After slavery in the United States came to an end, many poor African Americans could afford only the least expensive cuts of meat and offal. Subsistence farming yielded fresh vegetables, and fishing and hunting provided fish and wild game, such as possum, rabbit, squirrel, and sometimes waterfowl.

While soul food originated in the South, soul food restaurants&mdash;from fried chicken and fish "shacks" to upscale dining establishments&mdash;exist in virtually every African American community in the USA, especially in cities with large African American populations, such as Charleston, Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Florida, Houston, Detroit, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Cleveland, New Orleans, Memphis, Los Angeles, Oakland, Miami, Birmingham, Sacramento, St. Louis, Washington, D.C, and Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The mother of Southern cooking

Impoverished whites and blacks in the South prepared many of the same dishes stemming from the soul tradition, but styles of preparation sometimes varied. African American soul food generally tends to be more intensely spiced than European American cuisine. Certain techniques popular in soul and southern cuisine, such as using all the parts of the animal for consumption (e.g. West Africa), have roots in ancient Africa. Others like frying meat have a long history of which evidence occurs in ancient cultures all over the world such as Rome, Egypt and China. [cite web|url=|title=Fried Dough History] Whichever way it was introduced to the American South, fried meat became a common staple. To this day it is popular among Southern Euro and Afro-Americans.

Many people in the south debate over what the difference is between soul food and Southern cooking. Before the 1870s, the south was made up of a predominately Anglo and black population. Many blacks were cooks on plantations and may have taught the poor whites in the area their culinary traditions. Soul food is the first of the southern cuisines to arise, along with Creole cuisine (a similar cuisine that was isolated in the French Louisiana territory). During the 1870s, Irish, German and Czech immigrants started to come into the south bringing their own traditions coupled with soul food. This is when the larger, broad category of Southern cooking developed.

It is also important to note the Native American influence on soul cooking. Natives had been cultivating beans, strawberries, maize, and chili peppers. For years Natives prepared hominy (also the source of hominy grits), hotwater cornbread and strawberry bread, which Europeans appropriated as strawberry shortcake.


Since it was illegal in many states for enslaved Africans to learn to read or write, soul food recipes and cooking techniques tended to be passed along orally, until after slavery. The first soul food cookbook is attributed to Abby Fisher, entitled "What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking" and published in 1881. "Good Things to Eat" was published in 1911; the author, Rufus Estes, was a former slave who worked for the Pullman railway car service. Many other cookbooks were written by African Americans during that time, but as they were not widely distributed, most are now lost.

Since the mid-20th century, many cookbooks highlighting soul food and African American foodways compiled by African Americans have been published and well received. Vertamae Grosvenor's "Vibration Cooking, or the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl", originally published in 1970, focused on South Carolina "Lowcountry", Geechee, or Gullah, cooking. Its focus on spontaneity in the kitchen&mdash;cooking by "vibration" rather than precisely measuring ingredients, as well as "making do" with ingredients on hand&mdash;captured the essence of traditional African American cooking techniques. The simple, healthful, basic ingredients of lowcountry cuisine, like shrimp, oysters, crab, fresh produce, rice and sweet potatoes, made it a bestseller.

At the center of African American food celebrations is the value of sharing. Likewise, African American cookbooks often have a common theme of family and family gatherings. Usher boards and Women's Day committees of various religious congregations large and small, and even public service and social welfare organizations such as the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) have produced cookbooks to fund their operations and for charitable enterprises. The NCNW produced its first cookbook, "The Historical Cookbook of the American Negro", in 1958, and revived the practice in 1993, producing a popular series of cookbooks featuring recipes by well-known and celebrity African Americans, among them: "The Black Family Reunion Cookbook" (1993), ' (1994), and ' (1998). The NCNW also recently reissued "The Historical Cookbook".

Celebrated traditional Southern chef and author Edna Lewis wrote a series of books between 1972 and 2003, including "A Taste of Country Cooking" (Alfred A. Knopf, 1976) where she weaves stories of her childhood in Freetown, Virginia into her recipes for "real Southern food".

Another organization, the Chicago-based Real Men Charities, in existence since the 1980s, sponsors food-based charitable and educational programs and activities around the nation. As its primary annual, celebrity-studded fundraiser, Real Men Charities sponsors "Real Men Cook" events and programs in fifteen cities nationwide, where African American men gather to present their best recipes&mdash;some original, others handed down for generations&mdash;for charity. The event is timed to coincide roughly with Juneteenth and Father's Day and is promoted with the slogan "Every day is Family Day When Real Men Cook." In 2004, Real Men rolled out its Sweet Potato Pound Cake Mix in select food retail establishments in several cities, and published a cookbook in 2005 titled "". Proceeds from these events and from the cookbook help fund the organization's varied operations and activities.

Soul food and health

Soul food was developed by enslaved Africans who lived under the difficult and impoverished conditions of grinding physical labor. The history of soul food does not begin with the roots of slavery, but with traditions stretching back to Africa. It is humble, hearty fare, traditionally cooked and seasoned with pork products and often fried in lard.

Formerly, an important aspect of the preparation of soul food was the reuse of cooking lard. Because many cooks were too poor to throw out shortening that had already been used, they would pour the cooled liquid grease into a container. After cooling completely, the grease resolidified and could be used again the next time the cook required lard. Used cooking lard was simply a way to reuse an ingredient.

Frequent consumption of these ingredients without significant exercise or activity can contribute to disproportionately high occurrences of obesity, hypertension, cardiac/circulatory problems, and/or type 2 diabetes, conditions which often result in shortened lifespan. Additionally, trans fat, which is used not only in soul food, but in many baked goods, is a known contributor to cardiovascular disease.

As a result, some African-Americans may use methods of cooking soul food different from those employed by their grandparents, including using more healthful alternatives for frying (liquid vegetable oil or canola oil) and cooking and stewing using smoked turkey instead of pork. Changes in hog farming techniques have also resulted in drastically leaner pork. Some cooks have even adapted recipes to include healthier alternatives to traditional ingredients including tofu and soy-based analogues. [ [ African Vegetarian Recipes : The Ethnic Vegetarian ] ] Critics have argued that the attempt to make soul food healthier has the undesirable effect of not being as flavorful as the traditional recipes. [cite web
last = Jonsson
first = Patrick
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Backstory: Southern discomfort food
work = The Christian Science Monitor
publisher = The Christian Science Publishing Society
date=February 6, 2006
url =
format =
accessdate = 2006-11-09

Certain staples of a soul food diet have pronounced health benefits. Collard greens are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin A, B6, and C, manganese, iron, calcium, folic acid, fiber and small amounts of omega 3 fatty acids. They also contain a number of phytonutrients which are thought to play a role in the prevention of ovarian and breast cancer. [ [ WHFoods: Collard greens ] ] Peas, rice, and legumes are excellent, inexpensive sources of protein which also contain important vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of beta carotene and trace minerals as well, and have come to be classified as an "anti-diabetic" food. Recent animal studies have shown that sweet potatoes can stabilize blood sugar levels and lower insulin resistance. [ [ WHFoods: Sweet potatoes ] ]

The importance of frying as a cooking technique is in large part responsible for soul food's reputation as greasy and unhealthy. However, when done correctly, deep fat frying at high temperatures can allow less oil into the food than pan frying with small amounts of oil. When foods are deep fried, the water in the food boils out. This outward force of steam is greater than the inward force of the oil, so very little oil ends up in the food. However, heavy breading, insufficient oil, or too low a temperature can result in oily, generally unhealthy food.

Dishes and ingredients

Soul food uses a great variety of dishes and ingredients, some unique and some shared with other cuisines.


* Chicken gizzards, batter-fried
* Chicken livers, batter-fried
* Chitterlings ("chitlins") (the cleaned and prepared intestines of pigs, slow cooked and often eaten with vinegar and hot sauce; sometimes parboiled, then battered and fried)
* Country fried steak, also known as "chicken fried steak" (beef deep-fried with a crisp flour or batter coating, usually served with white gravy)
* Cracklins (commonly known as pork rinds and sometimes added to cornbread batter)
* Fatback (fatty, cured, salted pork; used to season meats and vegetables)
* Fried chicken (fried in grease with seasoned flour)
* Fried fish (any of several varieties of fish&mdash;especially catfish, but also whiting, porgies, bluegills&mdash;dredged in seasoned cornmeal and deep fried
* Ham hocks (smoked, used to flavor vegetables and legumes)
* Hoghead cheese (made primarily from pig snouts, lips, and ears, and frequently referred to as "souse meat" or simply "souse")
* Hog maws (hog jowls, sliced and usually cooked with chitterlings)
* Neckbones (beef neck bones seasoned and slow cooked)
* Oxtail soup (a soup or stew made from beef tails)
* Pigs feet (slow cooked like chitterlings, sometimes pickled and, like chitterlings, often eaten with vinegar and hot sauce)
* Ribs (usually pork, but can also be beef ribs)


* Black-eyed peas (cooked separately, or with rice as "Hoppin' John")
* Cabbage, usually boiled and seasoned with vinegar, salt and ham hocks or fatback. More recently, smoked poultry (turkey or chicken) is also used as a seasoning.
* Greens (usually cooked with ham hocks; especially collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, or a combination thereof. A wild green known as poke salad, which requires special preparation due to its toxicity when raw.)
* Lima beans (see also butter beans)
* Butter beans (immature lima beans, usually cooked in butter or combined with multiple regional sausages)
* Field peas (seasoned with pork)
* Okra (African vegetable eaten fried in cornmeal and flour or stewed, often with tomatoes, corn, onions and hot peppers; the Bantu word for okra is "ngombo", from which the Creole/soul food dish gumbo derives its name)
* Red beans served with rice or in chili
* Succotash (originally a Native American dish of yellow corn, tomatoes, and butter beans, usually cooked in butter)
* Sweet potatoes (often parboiled, sliced and then baked, using sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter, commonly called "candied yams"; also boiled, then pureed, seasoned and baked into pies&mdash;similar in taste and texture to pumpkin pie)
*Fried Corn, sweet yellow corn, off the cob, sauteed in bacon fat, with other flavorings, similar to Maque choux.


* Biscuits (a shortbread similar to scones, commonly served with butter, jam, jelly, sorghum or cane syrup, or gravy; used to wipe up, or "sop," liquids from a dish)
* Cornbread (a shortbread often baked in a skillet, commonly seasoned with bacon fat); a Native American contribution.
* Hoecakes (a type of cornbread made of cornmeal, salt and water, which is very thin in texture, and fried in cooking oil in a skillet. It became known as "hoecake" because field hands often cooked it on a shovel or hoe held to an open flame)
* Hot water cornbread (cornmeal mixed with hot water and fried)
* Hushpuppies (balls of cornmeal deep-fried with salt and diced onions; slaves used them to "hush" their dogs yelping for food in their yards.
* Johnny cakes (fried cornmeal pancakes, usually salted and buttered)
* Milk and bread (a "po' folks' dessert-in-a-glass" of slightly crumbled cornbread, buttermilk and sugar)
* Sweet bread (bread with a certain sweetness, presumably from molasses)
* Dumplings (homemade flat square noodles boiled with stewed chicken (usually a hen).
* Panbread (a type of unleavened bread made with flour salt, butter and water. It's cooked on top of the stove with an iron skillet. Similar to traditional flatbread that one finds within various cultures across the world.)
* BBQ (a type of meat barbecued, traditional in African American Culture)

Other items

* Chow-chow (a spicy, homemade pickle relish sometimes made with okra, corn, cabbage, hot peppers, green tomatoes and other vegetables; commonly used to top black-eyed peas and otherwise as a condiment and side dish)
* Grits (or "hominy grits", made from processed, dried, ground corn kernels and usually eaten as a breakfast food the consistency of porridge; also served with fish and meat at dinnertime, similar to polenta)
* Hot sauce (a condiment of cayenne peppers, vinegar, salt, garlic and other spices often used on chitterlings, fried chicken and fish including homemade or Texas Pete, Tabasco, or Louisiana brand)
* Macaroni and cheese (never from a box, only cooked from scratch with cheddar cheese, milk, flour, and seasonings mustard is option but a rarity.)It becomes a casserole when meats, such as bacon or ham, are added.
* Rice pudding, with rice and corn-based vanilla pudding

* Rice (served with red beans, black beans and/or black-eyed peas, as "rice and gravy" with fried chicken, fried pork chops, etc., or cooked into purloo (pilaf) or "bog" with chicken, pork, tomatoes, okra, onions, sausage, etc.)
* Sorghum syrup (from sorghum, or "Guinea corn," a sweet grain indigenous to Africa introduced into the U.S. by African slaves in the early 17th century; see biscuits); frequently referred to as "sorghum molasses"
* Sweet tea, inexpensive orange pekoe (black tea, often Lipton, Tetley, or Luzianne brands) boiled, sweetened with cane sugar, and chilled, served with lemon. The tea is sometimes steeped in the sun instead of boiled; this is referred to as "sun tea"
* Salmon Patties (also known as Salmon Croquet/Croquettes), a mixture of skinned & de-boned salmon, mixed with cornmeal, eggs, milk and onions fried in a skillet to make small, round patties.
* Red Velvet Cake - a popular cake within the African-American culture, in which some say the dark reddish color of the cake symbolizes the struggles of African-Americans during the decades.


It is a long-standing tradition in some African American families to indulge in a family or communal New Year's Day dinner featuring cabbage or greens, which symbolize money, and black-eyed peas, which symbolize good luck. Supermarkets that cater to African Americans often have these items, canned and fresh, in greater amounts and on prominent display at the end of the year to accommodate increased demand. Pralines pronounced "PRAW-LEANS"- a sweet sugary nut mixture, made mostly in the southern regions of the United States; New Orleans, LA

ee also

*Cuisine of the Southern United States
*Cuisine of the United States
*Edna Lewis

External links

* [ The David Walker Lupton African American Cookbook Collection]
* [ Glory Foods]
* [ Real Men Charities, Inc., website]
* [ Smokey Robinson Foods]
* [, A directory of Atlanta's soul food restaurants, caterers, personal chefs and food product manufacturers.
Focuses on soul food of America, The Caribbean and Africa.
* [ Soul Food Online]
* [ Soul Food] Historical 1960s "soul food" citations from word researcher Barry Popik.
* [ Plate Of The Day Food Blog - Soul Food]
* []



*Huges, Marvalene H. "Soul, Black Women, and Food. Ed. Carole Counihan and Penny van Esterik. New York: Routledge, 1997.
*Glenn, Gwendolyn, "American Visions," Southern Secrets From Edna Lewis, February-March, 1997

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  • soul food — soul food, adj. traditional black American cookery, which originated in the rural South, consisting of such foods as chitterlings, pig knuckles, turnip greens, and cornbread. [1960 65, Amer.] * * * ▪ cuisine       the foods and techniques… …   Universalium

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  • soul food — soul′ food n. coo traditional black American cuisine, orig. of the rural South • Etymology: 1960–65, amer. soul′ food , adj …   From formal English to slang

  • soul food — soul ,food noun uncount AMERICAN food traditionally eaten by black people in the southern U.S., for example CHITTERLINGS, CORN BREAD, and COLLARD GREENS …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • soul food — ☆ soul food n. Informal items of food popular originally in the South, esp. among blacks, such as chitterlings, ham hocks, yams, corn bread, and collard greens …   English World dictionary

  • soul food — n [U] traditional foods that are cooked and eaten by African Americans in the southern US …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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