Soul Food

By Troy Pentico


The history of American soul     was quickly converted into    
food can be traced all the       stuffing or a bread pudding.
way back to the days of          Over ripe bananas were whipped
slavery. More often times       up into banana puddings, and  
than not, the slaves were        other ripe fruits were put    
given the most undesirable       into cakes and pies, and      
part of the meal, the            leftover fish parts were made
leftovers from the house.       into croquets or hush         
Pairing this with their own      puppies.                      
home-grown vegetables, the                                     
first soul food dishes were      Sunday dinners are definitely 
invented. After the slaves      the times when soul food is   
were freed, most of them were    most commonly seen on tables.
so poor that they could only     Sunday dinners are a time for 
afford the most undesirable,     African-American families to  
inexpensive cuts of meat         get together to prepare and   
available to them. The           partake in a large meal.     
leftover, unwanted parts of a    Sunday dinners normally take  
pig such as tripe, tongue,       up the entire day normally    
ears, and knuckles. As in the    following a church ceremony,  
days of slavery, African-        and family members come from  
Americans used their own home-   far and wide to partake in    
grown vegetables and things      this meal together. Sunday   
they could catch or kill to      dinners took place in the form
complete their meals.            of potlucks, also, where      
                                various family members        
In the modern United States,     contribute a dish or two and  
soul food has truly evolved.    form a big, fine meal. Collard
It has become part of the        and mustard greens, kale,     
African-American culture,        ribs, corn bread, fried       
bringing family members          chicken, chitlins, okra, and  
together on all occasions from   yams are all excellent        
birthdays to funerals, to        examples of African-American  
spend time together preparing    soul food that might be found
meals. The history of soul      at a Sunday meal.             
food is mainly an oral one;                                    
recipes were never really        Soul food is not generally a  
written down so while two        healthy option for a person   
families may be preparing        that must monitor their diet.
identical meals, chances are     Fried foods are generally     
that they don't taste very       prepared with hydrogenated oil
much alike. Different           or lard, and they usually     
ingredients, cooking methods,    tend to be flavored and       
and techniques go into           seasoned with pork products.
preparing soul food meals,       Since this may be what        
causing the end results to       contributes to such a high    
come out differently.          percentage of African-        
                                Americans that are            
One of the most obvious and      significantly overweight, soul
widely-recognized                food preparation methods are  
characteristics of African-      now slowly starting to be     
American soul food is the fact   refined, bringing a lot more  
that hot sauce and more          healthy options to the table.
intense spices are               Rather than the increasingly  
incorporated into meals as       unhealthy pork products, use  
often as possible. For this     of turkey-based products is   
reason, soul food is not for     becoming more and more popular
those who can't take the heat    as time passes. The fried    
or are prone to heart burn!      foods that are so beloved of  
                                the culture can now be        
Another characteristic of        prepared using a lower fat    
true African-American soul       canola or vegetable oil.      
food is that nothing is ever                                   
wasted. Having originated                                     
from the leftovers of just                                     
about anything. Stale bread      

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