Soulfood In African American Culture

economic class due to government assistance program such as food stamps. Hence, many soul food ingredients such as lard can be replace with a much healthier oil option such as olive oil and there are now reduced sodium products all over the country that can replaces the amount of seasoning use in soulfood. Even though, with the help of healthier ingredient options, many people still stay away from soulfood due to the low reputation it achieve from stereotypes of soul food being unhealthy. In addition, that causes numerous of, “legendary soul food restaurants [to] disappear at a alarming pace” (Miller, pg3) across the country. The loss of soulfood resturants is equivalent to losing significant amount of African American history in the United

From soulfood we can learn how two distinct culture(American and African) were able to infuse into one another and create a new wonderful lifestyle that is full of traditions and pride showcased in all of African American communities throughout the nation. From soulfood we can learn the war African Americans have to fight daily in order to built their home in the United States. Most importantly, from Soul Food we are able to see how the culture of African American people began to grow and be apart of how this nation was constructed. Without Soulfood, America would simply not be the same. Starting with the fact that there would not be Thanksgiving. What's, America without Thanksgiving? After all Thanksgiving is the one of the only holiday that reveals how America started out with Immigrants and the African Americans are one of the first immigrants to cause Thanksgiving to become a popular national holiday through soulfood(Michael Twitty, Washington Post). Secondly, soulfood shape the way Southern cooking is today. Today, we know that southern cuisine put a huge emphasis on spices just like soul food do too and that is because “ the influences for many of the Southern foods we enjoy come directly from colonial and antebellum slave quarters”(Regelski,The Soul Of Food). Therefore, we have to acknowledge the difficult past African Americans had to endure, but despite that past they were still able to impact the cooking in the south and thus in one way or another give the south a part of their identity. Lastly, without Soul food there just be a huge chunk of African American history missing in the United States. Since the very first African American arrive to the state's, soul food has been there to lead them into finding a sense of belonging and in some ways regaining joy that was stolen for them when they were forced into slavery.