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SECTION 4 Sub-Saharan Africa and African Americans


required minimal preparation and could be prepared in large quantities. With limited cookware, one-pot meals were common, as were boiling, stewing meats, frying in lard, roasting over open-pit fires and in hot stone-lined barbecue pits, smoking meats, baking, and roasting food in leaves. If the meat was tough, citrus juice, herbs, spices, and onions were used to tenderize the meat.38 Black molasses added sweetness. Okra thickened


many stews. Lard, usually rendered from hogs, was used to deep-fry chicken and catfish, which were then coated in cornmeal and cooked until crispy. Fatty gravies provided calories needed to work long hours in the fields. As a source of needed vitamins and minerals, concentrated liquid from vegetables, especially greens cooked with fatback, ham, or salt pork and known as potlikker (or pot liquor), was used as a dip for corn bread and to flavor soups and stews. Food bonded together loved ones at the end of a long


day’s work. Mealtimes provided opportunities for oral history to be passed down to the next generation, time for religious ceremonies to take place, and a time to socialize. Until the end of slavery in 1865, these traditional


dishes were mostly confined to the South. After slavery was outlawed, African American cooks took their culinary skills to the North and West. Former African American slaves and their children cooked in hotels, for wealthy families, as porters on railways, and as chuck wagon cooks using mobile kitchens.38 Over the years, resourcefulness and inventiveness


became distinctive culinary traits for African Americans who used their own styles of cooking. Cooks started their own catering businesses and opened small restaurants in their neighborhoods. After the Great Depression, the use of processed foods and ready-to-eat foods increased. Meat consumption increased, as did consumption of dairy products, ice cream and canned, frozen, and dried foods. Fewer fruits and vegetables were served. Potato chips, french fries, and convenience foods became popular in the US, including in the homes of some African Americans.17 Many African Americans continued to eat greens, cab- bage, souse (a type of head cheese), chitterlings (chitlins), beans, and pork. Te same inexpensive meats were roasted, smothered, and barbecued. When fresh meat was not in the budget, smoked and pickled meats were used in the meal plan. Fruits were eaten when in season. Food was preserved, canned, or pickled to help during lean economic times. Hot-water corn bread, often served


with vegetables or beans flavored with meat, was a filling meal that could feed many people. Meals often included rice, eggs, and potatoes (inexpensive food items) prepared in different ways.38,39


Soul Food Many foods and dishes that developed during the years of enslavement are referred to as soul food and are considered part of traditional Southern cuisine. Soul food has its ori- gins in the many years of scarce resources (food) and comes from the cooking practices that enslaved people brought with them. Tese foods, dishes, and ingredients, influenced by American Indian, Spanish, French, and British cuisines, evolved from African customs during the period of slavery in the Southern US. African enslaved people modified their cooking techniques and thus boiling, frying, and roasting became part of African American soul food. Cooking soul food wasted very little food and it became a way for enslaved people to survive in America.40 Enslaved Africans and their children had little control


over their lives or choices, so they cooked with compassion in a style of their own to express feelings, share love, and nurture family and friends. Enslaved Africans were not allowed to read or write, so they did not cook from written recipes but rather from oral recipes passed down from generation to generation. Many of these recipes are still handed down orally today. Te term soul food (meaning food cooked with the senses) was introduced during the mid-1960s Civil Rights Movement.39


Soul food is wholesome food that uses


everything available. Nothing goes to waste: for example, stale bread is transformed into bread pudding, and old rice is transformed into a sweet pudding. Soul food today is eaten within and outside the American South; while not the same as Southern cuisine, soul food is a distinct type of cooking on its own, although they share a common heritage.40


Regional and Southern Food Te unique culture of each region and state in the US influenced African American food choices and preparation of dishes. Although their own diets were limited during times of slavery, some enslaved people acquired European culinary knowledge in the kitchens of White families and society. After slavery, African cooks had freedom in their own kitchens to create a blend of African, European, and


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