How Did Soul Food Influence West African-American Culture

In 2006, June was declared National Soul Food Month, officially recognizing that the cuisine as a staple of African-American culture. The cuisine has traveled from the South to the North and joined some of the most valued cuisine served at American restaurants. Soul food also symbolizes African-American resilience and triumph in a complicated racial history still impacted by slavery. However, as reflected in the multitude of names soul food has been called including “slave food, the master’s leftovers, southern food, and country cooking”, soul food is both celebrated and villainized. Many refer to soul food as the “slow killer” because its reputation for high sugar, fat, salt, and calories-- all the ingredients linked to poor health outcomes in African-Americans. Consequently, there has

For example, meals like grits and hot-water cornbread have been linked to West African porridges that were made with millet and other indigenous grains after the 1600s. The use of herbs, heavy seasoning and cooking oil in African-American cooking are linked with the West African cuisine, specifically the Igbo and Mande tribes that cooked with palm oil. West African eating customs also influenced African American eating habits such the use of corn bread to soak up remaining sauce. The close ties between what became soul food and West African eating practices would both “other” and unify slaves. Slave masters would often control the food that was offered to slaves in order to gain a sense of security. For example, food was separated by hierarchy;slave masters would receive the finest of ingredients compared to slaves’ meals that were made with more common fare. However, food also aided in unifying slaves by serving as a common denominator when most plantations were created to separate West Africans of the same ethnic