Soul Food (...of the African-American culinary culture)

Are we there yet? is the classic sitcom of the early 2000s which portrays the life of a middle-class African-American family. Since it has never achieved the same success of similar products such as My Wife and Kids, the series was never translated into italian. In the depiction of the typical intergenerational conflict between the grandparents who grew up in poverty and the grandchildren who were born after the family's social advancement, a dialogue is staged that well explains the relationship between African Americans and the food that most characterises their culinary culture. The whole family is gathered around the table for dinner. The grandmother declares that she wants to teach her granddaughter to cook "some real soul food". The grandson intervenes asking what soul food is. The mother glares at him and says: "The number two cause of death of black men over forty!". Off-screen laughter accompanies the close-up of the grandmother's outraged face.

The rather dark pun compares soul food to black-on-black violence, i.e. violence within the African-American community, which according to general wisdom -disproved by all the statistics - is the number one cause of death for black men in the United States. Soul food is therefore dangerous to health, and it is not an old, ignorant white man who says so, but a young, educated black woman. But is it true?

Like any self-respecting culinary tradition, soul food is first and foremost an invention. All cuisines are in fact the product of encounters and transformations: it is only over time that they have become integral - and for some foundational - parts of ethnic and national identities. Soul food can therefore be said to be primarily a political and identity claim. In the 1960s, with the spread of the ideas promoted by the Black Power movement, a phase of re-appropriation and re-signification of the community's cultural heritage began in the African American community. Soul food was fully part of this movement. In fact, the term was popularised by the political activist and philosopher Stokely Carmichael in 1966. In a letter signed by SNCC - the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee he led - and published in The New York Times, Carmichael identified certain dishes as an integral part of the black experience in the United States. What used to be vaguely called Southern food or Down home cooking became soul food and took on a distinct racial identity.

This cuisine traces its roots back to the period of slavery, when black people were forced to adapt their West African culinary culture to the living conditions and raw materials of the American colonies. Depending on the origins of the slaves and settlers, on the climate and the local economy, four different culinary areas were formed: Cheespeak bay cuisine in Virginia, Lowcountry cuisine on the southern Atlantic coast, Cajun or Creole cuisine in the Mississippi delta and Black Belt cuisine in the inland areas of the South. It is the latter area, due to its demographic and cultural importance, that would most determine the characteristics of future soul food.

The Black Belt cuisine was based on the consumption of meat (mainly pork and chicken), cornmeal and molasses. The dishes of this cuisine were prepared by the slaves for dinner- the only substantial meal of the day. The menu usually consisted of a single dish in which the protein (boiled, fried or roasted) was accompanied by a carbohydrate or starch and sometimes by vegetables. Instead, on Sundays and holidays, the slaves’ diet was enriched with products (sweet potatoes) and cooking methods and complexities (baking cakes). With the outbreak of the Civil War, racial differences at the dinner table flattened out due to the tremendous effects of the war on the population. In many cases, blacks and whites in the South tended to have a similar diet.

During racial segregation, the living conditions of the majority of African-Americans certainly didn’t tend to improve. Nevertheless, the very first black entrepreneurs opened rudimentary taverns and food shops in segregated neighbourhoods of southern cities. By the end of the century, these activities spread also in northern cities as the Great Migration- the mass migration of the African-American community from the South to the industrial cities of the North-East, Midwest and West- began to take hold. The down home cooking phase then began. Indeed, this is how the first restaurants serving southern food in the North cities were advertised. Along with the first entrepreneurial experiments in catering, the churches were central in the building of the African-American culinary tradition. Especially on Sundays, they were busy preparing huge lunches and distributing food.

After the Second World War, the overall improvement in the living conditions of the community led to the growth of the catering industry, which became a mass phenomenon. Thus in the 1960s, when the black nationalist movement developed, food became a political battleground. The traditional down home cooking, the peaceful and nostalgic reminder of Southern cuisine, turned into soul food, the food that symbolised the empowerment of the black community. This new definition was also successful commercially. Within a few years, the publications of soul food recipe books multiplied.

Despite its popularity, soul food never achieved the same status as other ethnic cuisines which, over the years, had become part of the average American's diet. From the outset white America has stigmatised soul food as a poor and potentially health-threatening cuisine. With the end of the Black Power movement, this stigma was also embraced by a section of the black bourgeoisie, which looked upon its own culinary tradition with disgust.

From a scientific perspective, some soul food dishes have nutritional values that would discourage their daily and prolonged consumption. But soul food is a broad cuisine that has evolved throughout history. Vegetables such as cable or chard have in fact been an integral part of some soul food dishes since its origins. Frying in lard, traditionally popular because of its low cost, is now much less common than it used to be. At the same time, an entire repertoire of vegetarian and vegan soul food has had a big place since the 1990s.

The United States is the country with the highest per capita meat consumption in the world. Chicken is the most widely consumed meat and the most popular protein for Americans. It is cooked in many different ways, but the cooking that most enhances its flavour is fried. Made famous by the very popular fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), fried chicken is an institution in the United States. There are no precise sources above the origins of this dish, with many claiming that the Scottish community was the first to bring its success to the overseas colonies. Over the years, African Americans have become its greatest experts. In fact, chicken was one the most widely consumed foods on slave plantations. But, while the masters ate the juiciest parts, the slaves were left with nothing but the toughest and most tasteless scraps. They thus began seasoning the meat with paprika and traditional West African spices and frying it in lard. The result was a much tastier chicken than that prepared by the masters.

After the Civil War, fried chicken spread like wildfire, becoming the peasant food par excellence. In the 60s, with the advent of soul food, this dish was the first to be recontextualised by the community. Nowadays, in soul food restaurants fried chicken is usually accompanied by mac ‘n cheese, a second carbohydrate (mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, roasted corn), a vegetable (chard or cable) or a pulse (peas or beans) and an inevitable slice of cornbread. Alternatively, at lunch time, fried chicken is often served with waffles.

Serves for: 4 people | Preparation time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6-8 pieces of chicken

• 1,5 litres of peanut oil

• 2 cups flour

• 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder

• 1 ½ teaspoons onion powder

• 1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika

• 1 tablespoon white meat seasoning

• 1 teaspoon chilli pepper

• 1½ teaspoons salt

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• 1 egg

• ½ cup buttermilk (can be replaced by ½ cup whole milk with the addition of ½ tablespoon apple cider vinegar)

Preparation:

• Pour peanut oil into a deep fryer or frying pan

• Heat the oil over medium heat until it reaches a temperature of 185°

• While waiting for the oil to heat up, tip one cup of flour, the garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, white meat seasoning and chilli powder in a medium-sized bowl and mix until smooth

• Pour the second cup of flour into another bowl adding salt and pepper and mix

• In a third bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg

• The chicken will undergo a three-step process

• First, place the chicken in the bowl of flour seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika and chilli powder and turn it until it is evenly coated

• Then shake off the excess flour and dip the chicken into the buttermilk and egg mixture

• Finally transfer the chicken to the last bowl of flour seasoned with salt and pepper and turn until well covered

• Place the chicken in the oil being careful not to overcrowd the pan

• Cook the chicken pieces for 10-12 minutes, turning occasionally

• When the chicken batter turns golden brown, remove the chicken from the hot oil and let it drain on paper towels

«Aretha Franklin’s favourite dish»: that’s the mythology which is a hit on the web if you type “pigs feet”. In fact, the Queen of Soul is quoted as saying that she found it difficult to give up this dish in her strict diet due to the health problem that plagued her late in life. Pigs feet is one of the most particular dishes in soul food tradition, although it also belongs to other culinary cultures (the Italian zampone itself is a distant relative).

Pigs feet trace back to the slave period. In a similar story to that of fried chicken, these are pork scraps that were once reserved for slaves on the plantations. This dish was mainly prepared during holidays or Sundays due to the long cooking time required. For the same reason, pigs feet remain a home dish rather than a restaurant one and are usually served with a side dish of beans and some cornbread.

Serves for: 5 persons | Preparation time: 3 hours 

Ingredients:

• 1 kg pig's trotters cut into quarters

• 1 white onion

• 1 large jalapeno pepper (can be replaced with 1 friggitello pepper and 1 fresh hot pepper)

• 1 tablespoon garlic powder

• 2 sprigs of rosemary

• 1 teaspoon red meat seasoning

• 2 bouillon cubes

• 7 cups water

• 1 tablespoon oil

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon pepper

Preparation:

• Wash the pig's trotters well and dry them with a cloth

• Finely chop the onion

• Put the oil in a deep pan and brown the pig's trotters over a medium heat

• When the pork skin is well browned, add the chopped onion, garlic powder, rosemary, bouillon cubes, red meat seasoning, salt, pepper, and water

• Put the lid on the pot and simmer for about 2/3 hours

• When the stock has reduced and the meat has softened, let it rest for 5 minutes and then serve the dish

Fish is a fundamental part of soul food cuisine as it is a staple of West African cuisine, the homeland of most slaves in the United States. Catfish was the most common fish during slavery because it was easily found in the lakes and rivers of the South. It was also easy to catch and cook. Frying was and still is the most common cooking method for this fish.

The popularity of fried catfish in the South increased even more during the 1960s when the cotton industry collapsed. Many landowners in Arkansas and Mississippi consequently decided to flood their fields to create catfish farms. These farmers achieved enormous success in making this food an affordable and widely available option for all Americans. Southern fried catfish is usually accompanied by coleslaw or potato salad.

Serves for: 3 persons | Preparation time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 5 catfish fillets

• 1 ½ cups cornflour

• ½ cup whole-wheat flour

• ½ cup buttermilk (can be replaced by ½ cup whole milk with the addition of half a tablespoon apple cider vinegar)

• ½ cup water

• salt and pepper to taste

• 1 teaspoon of fish seasoning

• 1 litre sunflower oil

Preparation:

• Mix the buttermilk, water, salt and pepper in a bowl. Pour the mixture into a baking tin large enough to hold the fillets. Place the fillets in the pan, turning to coat each side. Set aside and leave to marinate for 30 minutes

• Combine the cornflour, wholemeal flour and fish seasoning in a medium-sized bowl and mix until smooth

• Place the chicken in the bowl of flour and turn until evenly coated

• Heat the oil in a deep fryer or frying pan until it reaches a temperature of 185°

• Place the fillets in the oil, taking care not to overcrowd the pan

• Cook the fillets for 3-4 minutes, turning occasionally

• When the batter turns golden brown, remove the fillets from the hot oil and let them drain on paper towels

Meatloaf is a dish found in many different culinary cultures. Again, it is a peasant food, designed to reuse discarded or expiring meats. In the United States, this dish became popular during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In the black community, meatloaf is a full-fledged institution. Every family has its own recipe and every restaurant offers its own reinterpretation. This dish is usually served with mashed potatoes, collard greens or beans.

Serves for: 8 people | Preparation time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 1 kg ground beef

• 20 crushed saltine crackers

• ½ cup beef stock

• 1 white onion

• 1 green pepper

• 1 egg

• 100 ml ketchup

• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

• 1 tablespoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• 1 teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon black pepper

For the glaze:

• 200 ml ketchup

• 5 tablespoons brown sugar

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 180°

• Line a baking tray with foil and set aside

• Place the crackers in a large bowl and crumble them with your hands

• Pour the beef stock over the crackers and set aside for about 5 minutes

• Add the finely chopped onion, diced pepper, beaten egg, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, paprika, salt, black pepper and beef to the bowl. Using your hands, mix the mixture until it is uniform

• Place the meat mixture on the baking tray and form an oval loaf

• Bake the meatloaf in the oven for about 50 minutes

• When there are about 15 minutes left until the meatloaf is done, create the glaze by mixing ketchup and brown sugar in a small bowl. Brush this mixture over the meatloaf and let the meatloaf finish cooking

•Once cooked, remove the meatloaf from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes

Soul food is a cuisine made up of one-dish meals. In a restaurant, one usually has the option of accompanying the main dish with two or three side dishes, a slice of cornbread (a bread made with cornmeal) and a drink. In soul food, side dishes can be carbohydrates, vegetables or pulses.

The most common carbohydrates are mac ‘n cheese, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes or potato salad and plain rice. When it comes to vegetables, territorial differences are more pronounced. Nevertheless, it can be said that the most popular vegetables side dishes in soul food restaurants are boiled cabbage, collard greens, fried or boiled okra and coleslaw, whilst the most common pulses are peas, green beans, black or papa de rola beans and corn.

The history of mac ‘n cheese can be traced back directly to Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. In the course of his diplomatic career, Jefferson travelled extensively through Europe. During a stint in Paris, he was introduced to macaroni and cheese and fell in love with it. Back in his plantation in Virginia, Jefferson began importing pasta and cheese from Italy in order to reproduce this dish. His African-American slave James Hemings was thus the first cook in the United States to make and then master mac ‘n cheese. From then on, this dish became fashionable through American high society in the early 19th century. With the advent of the industrial revolution, many products became more and more accessible. As a result, this dish lost its elitist characterisation to become a phenomenon of custom. From plantation kitchens to homes and restaurants, mac ‘n cheese was and still is a pride of the black community.

Candied sweet potatoes are the signature dish of Thanksgiving and Christmas in African-American families. This tuber is, in fact, a progenitor of soul food. Sweet potatoes are nothing more than a substitute for yam. The yam is the most common tuber in West Africa. On American plantations, slaves replaced it with sweet potatoes reinterpreting traditional African recipes in light of the new raw material.

Collard greens, a vegetable related to cabbage, grow wild throughout the Black Belt. Its nature as a wild vegetable growing spontaneously in the fields has made it very common among African Americans since the days of slavery. Collard greens are a very fibrous vegetable that takes a long time to cook. In fact, this dish is traditionally associated with Sunday lunch.

Serves for: 3 persons | Preparation time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 200 g macaroni

• 4 tablespoons butter

• 2 tablespoons flour

• 60 g heavy cream (can be replaced by cream cheese)

• 200 g cheddar cheese

• 200 g cup Colby-jack cheese (can be replaced by mozzarella for pizza)

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon black pepper

• ½ teaspoon garlic powder

• ½ teaspoon onion powder

• 1 teaspoon dry mustard

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• 5 sprig of thyme

• 3 cups water

• 4 ¼ cups milk

Preparation:

• Fill a saucepan with 3 cups of milk, 3 cups of water and 1 tablespoon of butter and simmer

• Once the liquid starts to simmer, add the macaroni and cook according to the package directions, stirring occasionally to make sure the macaroni does not stick

• Drain the macaroni and set aside

• Add 3 tablespoons of butter to a second pot and simmer. When the butter has melted, add the flour, 1 ¼ cups milk, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, mustard and paprika and stir until smooth

• Let the ingredients simmer for about 3 minutes until the mixture thickens slightly and add the cheddar and Colby-jack (reserve some for the topping halfway through cooking)

• Close the pan with the lid and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the cheeses are combined

• Add the pasta and heavy cream, stirring the mixture to mix evenly

• Transfer the mixture to a baking tray and add the remaining grated cheese

• Bake in the oven 180 C° for about 25 minutes until golden brown

• Garnish with fresh thyme

Serves for: 6 people | Preparation time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 1 kg ½ sweet potatoes

• 6 cups water

• 100 g butter

• 1 teaspoon salt

• ½ cup brown sugar

• ½ cup white sugar

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon nutmeg

• 2 tablespoons maple syrup

• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger

• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 190°. Grease a medium-sized baking dish and set it aside

• Wash, peel and cut the sweet potatoes into centimetre-thick rounds

• Place the sweet potatoes in the baking dish and set aside

• Heat the butter, sugars, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, maple syrup, cloves and salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat until the butter has melted

• Add the vanilla extract and remove the saucepan from the heat

• Pour the mixture over the sweet potatoes and use a wooden spoon or your hands to mix everything together making sure they are all well coated

• Cover the pan with aluminium foil and bake the sweet potatoes in the oven for 30 minutes

• After 30 minutes, remove the aluminium foil from the baking tray, stir the potatoes well and continue baking, uncovered, for another 20-25 minutes

• Let the candied sweet potatoes cool for about 10 minutes and enjoy!

Serves for: 3 persons | Preparation time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 kg collard greens (can be replaced by black cabbage or kale)

• ½ kg bacon

• 1 yellow onion

• 6 cups chicken stock

• 2 cups water

• 1 teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon black pepper

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 jalapeno pepper (can be replaced with 1 friggitello pepper and 1 fresh hot pepper)

• 3 tablespoons apple vinegar

Preparation:

• Cleanse and slice the collard greens and cut the bacon into strips

• Brown the bacon in a large saucepan over medium heat

• Add the diced onions and garlic powder and fry for 3 minutes

• Pour in the chicken stock, turn up the heat and leave to simmer for 20 minutes

• Pour in the 2 cups of water and lower the heat

• Add the collard greens to the pot and add salt, pepper, the diced jalapeno pepper and the 3 tablespoons of vinegar

• Cover the pan and simmer for 1 hour and 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally

• Drain the collard greens and serve!

Every self-respecting soul food restaurant brews its own homemade iced-tea. This tradition is typical of the South in general. In fact, tea is the drink of hospitality par excellence. However, this is not the only drink typically consumed in the black community. During holidays, it is indeed popular to enjoy “red drinks”. These do not have a specific taste per se: they can be watermelon, strawberry or other fruit-based drinks. In fact, the red colour is the main characteristic of these soft drinks. Not all sources agree on the reason for this choice of colour. One of the most established theories affirms that this tradition took hold during religious celebrations in churches in order to serve drinks that had the colour of Jesus Christ’s blood. When it comes to alcohol consumption, the African American community shares the Southern passion for whiskey.

The concept of dessert was new to the slaves from West Africa. In fact, in those territories it was not customary to end a meal with something sweet. Once on the plantations of the South, the slaves began to integrate some of the settlers’ habits into their diet. Before the Civil War, the most common dessert in the African American community was slices of molasses-glazed cornbread. Today, a hypothetical Hall of Fame of soul food desserts would include banana pudding, peach cobbler, pound cake and sweet potato pie. These four dishes have a common origin in the English aristocracy and a common fate in the gradual transition from a luxury dessert to food for all.

Serves for: 8 servings | Preparation time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 8 black tea bags

• 5 litres of cold water

• 3 cups granulated sugar

• ¼ teaspoon baking soda

Instructions:

• Pour the water into a large saucepan and bring it to the boil

• Lower the heat and steep the tea bags in the boiling water for 10 minutes

• Add the sugar and bicarbonate of soda as well

• After 10 minutes remove the tea bags from the pot

• Pour the tea into a pitcher and optionally add lemon wedges or fresh mint

• Wait for it to cool and then serve the tea over ice and enjoy it!

Serves for: 8 servings | Preparation time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 7 kg sweet potatoes

• 300 g evaporated milk (can be replaced by condensed milk)

• 1 packet of shortcrust pastry

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 2 eggs

• 5 tablespoons butter

• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon ginger powder

• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon cloves

• ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions:

• Wash, peel and boil the sweet potatoes then set aside to cool

• Grease a large baking tray and preheat the oven

• Blend the sweet potatoes with an immersion blender until soft and creamy

• Add eggs, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, cloves, salt, condensed milk and butter and mix these ingredients until well combined

• Spread the puff pastry dough in the baking tin and then add the pie filling

• Then bake for 45-50 minutes at 180°

• Let it cool and then enjoy!

Gray, J., Serrao, P., Walker, L. (2022). Ghetto Gastro Presents Black Power Kitchen. New York: Artisan Books.

Harris, J. (2012). High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America. London: Bloomsbury.

Miller, A. (2013). Soul Food. The Surprising story of an American Cuisine. Chapel Hill: North Caroline Universtiy Press.

Tipton-Martin, T. (2019). Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking: A Cookbook. New York: Clarkson Potter Publisher.