Soul Food By George Tillman

The movie Soul Food is a comedy/drama made in 1997 by George Tillman Jr. The movie is centered around a Chicagoan family and there struggles to handle life situations while maintaining the concept of family. Soul Food not only represents the delicious food that has nourished the black body for generations; the movie also represents the concept of preserving family tradition. This film covers the basis of the Great Migration, when people from the south migrated to the north and Midwest in search of work and freedom from southern oppression. George Tillman Jr. does a good job at creating well rounded characters and depicting the positives and the negatives of each character’s roll in the movie. Soul Food is a representation of the numerous benefits and disadvantages of being black in America.

According African American Registry, “Soul Food is a term used for an ethnic cuisine, food traditionally prepared and eaten by African Americans of the Southern United States. Many of the various dishes and ingredients included in "soul food" are also regional meals and comprise a part of other Southern US cooking, as well. The style of cooking originated during American slavery. African slaves were given only the "leftover" and "undesirable" cuts of meat from their masters (while the white slave owners got the meatiest cuts of ham, roasts, etc.).” In the actual movie Soul Food, Big Mama, grandmother and matriarch of the family, goes on to explain that since “black folks”, as she calls them, did not have an excess amount of money they had to find ways to make the food they could afford taste good. Once the food was made blacks folks would gather over Sunday dinner to fellowship and give thanks for the food that had been provided for