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The History, Dietary Patterns, and Diet-Related Diseases behind the Traditional African-American Soul Food Many African-Americans consume what is known as “soul food”, for which, it is very popular within the black community. Soul food is an African-American cuisine that can be traced back as far as African, however, the term itself was not coined until the mid-1960s. It also comprise an important element of the cuisine of the general American south. Soul food was adopted and modify during the African slave trade and it was during this time food African cuisine and southern European cuisine became one big melting pot. Traditionally-prepared soul food have the tendency to be very high in starch, fat, sodium, cholesterol, and calories. This has been very problematic for the black community because it increases the risk of diet-related diseases such as obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes. The preparation of soul food is the key element of diet-related diseases. Some preparations would include reusing lard, increasing the acceptable amount of sugar, large quantities of salty meats, and overcooking greens. Collectively, have an increased impact of the overall health in the African-American community. Yet because of the fine print terms and conditions behind the health risk of soul food many still …show more content…
This triumphant history is simmering beneath a complicated mixture of endearing and polarizing perspectives. As for many, these are dishes that celebrate a heritage of culinary genius, community-building, and resourcefulness. However, there are many who reach the opposite conclusion and criticize soul food as an exceedingly unhealthy cuisine that needs a warning label, or slave food that is unworthy of celebration (Miller,
In Lavanya Ramanathan’s Washington Post article published in 2015 titled “Why everyone should stop calling immigrant food ‘ethnic’”, she discusses about people’s preconceptions on the type of food that should be labelled ethnic. Ashlie Stevens also touched on a similar topic in her Guardian article published in 2015 titled “Stop thinking and just eat: when ‘food adventuring’ trivializes culture”. She talks about how people assume that just by eating food from a certain culture, they are able relate to the culture as a whole. Both authors acknowledge the importance of appreciating authentic cuisines, but takes different approaches to convince the audience. Both authors establish credibility by using a wide range of substantiated evidences. While,
Neither life nor culture can be sustained without food. On a very basic level, food is fundamentally essential for life, not simply to exist, but also to thrive. A means by which carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, nutrients, and calories are introduced into the body, food is a mechanism of survival. However, on a more abstract level, food is also fundamentally essential for culture by establishing its perimeters and dimensions and in shaping its authenticity and character. Food becomes the carbohydrates and calories that maintain any culture. Food offers a dynamic cross-section of man's tendencies. "Nourishment, a basic biological need," argues anthropologist Sidney Mintz, "becomes something else because we humans transform it symbolically into a system of meaning for much more than itself" (7). By examining food consumption and preparation, much is discoverd regarding the intricacies of culture. The preparation and consumption of food in Puritan society are reflected in Mary Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. Rowlandson's view of food and admissions of hunger in the infancy of her captivity cast a revealing light upon the roots of her conceptions and ideas about food and, more generally, about her culture's conceptions and ideas about food. As the conflict between her soul and her stomach raged over food, Rowlandson's attitudes toward the Native Americans' preparation and consumption of food reflect the socialization of the Puritans to believe that every meal ...
Soul Food explore the hardships and trials of black family life, and through the characters, setting, and theme of both the story and the film, the issue of class and the search for community is discussed. Big Mama wanted her family to come closer. The more she tried, the farther apart they became. During her struggle, she encountered many obstacles including her own son 's beliefs, but she did not let them curve her appetite to gain higher status in society.
This soul music was a combination of R&B and gospel music that began around the 1950s. Soul was spreaded throughout the nation in which a lot many people of races took on such as, Aretha Franklin, Sonny & Cher, Teena Marie, as well as Otis Redding. Soul music is defined as a something powerful and it was a mainstream black pop in American music. Soul music had a meaningful impact in which you can feel where its coming from. Soul music had grown and changed, and it kept up with time.
We have all been there! It is the same way with soul food, with benefits come drawbacks. Many will agree that soul food is great and warms the soul of the consumer, but what are some of the drawbacks to eating this delicious cuisine on a daily basis? The one major drawback is that most soul food is prepared with Crisco and other greasy substances used to cook that aren’t good for us. Any person that eats soul food on a regular basis without proper workouts or exercising of any type has an increased possibility of diabetes, obesity, hypertension and other cardiac problems. The article states that this is a major factor in obesity in the African American community and a reason why many of modern blacks have a shortened lifespan due to the consumption of these greasy, fatty foods in a large quantity throughout their lives (Soul). Speaking of modern African Americans, how does food intertwine with the modern culture of African
As a child I remember my mom preparing Sunday dinner Saturday afternoon. I was told it took time to prepare everything. Then come Sunday dinner after church we had some of the biggest meal placed before us. Mac and cheese, collard greens, cornbread that looked like pound cake, pork chops, fried chicken, etc. As I got older I asked for some of those recipes and she could never answer what all I needed to do she showed me. Her main concern was I loved what I was cooking and to cook to please others. I guess that explained all the salt, pepper, and other heavy ingredients. I choose to write about soul food because I believe it’s a part of my heritage and its a meal I enjoy from time to time. African American Registry states that in order to understand
Cajun cuisine is a fusion of food from different regions with very rich histories, such as France, Canada, and the southern U.S. It was originated by peasants of French ancestry. These immigrants settled in the "Acadian" region of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia from 1604 to 1654. By 1755, the population of these settlers had grown to about 15,000. They survived on cereal crops such as wheat, barley and oats, and garden vegetables including field peas, cabbage, and turnips. This diet was supplemented by domestic livestock, wild game, and fish. (History of the Cajuns. (2001). www.terrebonneparish.com)
Cost effective items were pivotal to their survival. As for eating such foods for many of years, those dishes that were made became critiqued throughout time to much tastier meals. Such meals were passed down from generation to generation, creating a unique history behind it. Also, during that time “Soul Food” was distinguishing its own meaning and identity, “There is no doubt that the slave trade left a profound and everlasting mark on the souls of enslaved Africans, but Opie makes a startlingly simple argument, offering a definition of soul that describes not slaves but the positive attributes of all of humankind.”(Evans 223) Laretta Henderson claims that, “in its culinary incarnation, "soul food" was associated with a shared history of oppression and inculcated, by some, with cultural pride. Soul food was eaten by the bondsmen. It was also the food former slaves incorporated into their diet after emancipation. Therefore, during the 1960s, middle-class blacks used their reported consumption of soul food to distance themselves from the values of the white middle class, to define themselves ethnically, and to align themselves with lower-class blacks. Irrespective of political affiliation or social class, the definition of “blackness” or “soul” became part of everyday discourse in the black
Michael Twitty is a food writer and culinary historian best known for preparing, preserving and promoting African American food ways and its origins in Africa. He emphasizes how African food culture has made a great impact on the American South. His cooking helped him to learn about his identity and culture. He describes “identity cooking” a way to better understand him and his culture as a Jewish-African American. A project he developed called “The Cooking Gene” is what he explains as a means of “exploring my family history through food, from Africa to America, from slavery to freedom.” Race, food and ethnicity all have a more complex and cultural meaning especially when fused together. Different
""Soul Food" a Brief History." Welcome To The Black Box, Personal Narratives in High Definition. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014
In Michael Pollan’s “The End of Cooking” shares the message of what we are losing something important in this day and age because of all our pre-made and processed foods. This can be compared with Kothari’s “If You Are What You Eat, What Am I?” and her argument that food is part of one’s own identity. By using the examples from these two texts you can analyze the state of food and culture in the United States today. All of the processed and pre-made foods are causing people all across America to lose their sense of Culture. We no longer know what it’s like to make one of our cultures specialty dishes from scratch which can help people identify with their culture. This process helped newer generations see what it was like for those before them to cook on a daily basis and could help them identify your sense of culture.
All ethnic groups have their own language, food, and way of living. Some can even call their food, “soul food.” Soul food can be described as “food made with feeling and care,” but in America, soul food simply refers to African-American cuisine (A History of Soul Food). In Imamu Amiri Baraka’s essay, “Soul Food” he describes how shocked he was to read an article that stated how “African-Americans have no language and no characteristic food.” So he argued against that supposed fact. I too was shocked and am agreeing with Baraka’s argument. African-Americans have had soul food for hundreds of years, if anything that is all they have ever had. Since slaves had no control or choice in life, cooking became a way to express feelings, share love and nurture family and sorrow (Helton). Soul food is more that just food; it is history, tradition, and family.
This type of cooking brought slave traditions of adaptation of foods to the forefront and exposed many people that were not familiar with these foods knowledge of them. The use of less expensive proteins, greens, one pot meals. During and after slavery, living conditions of the African people in the United States were extremely poor. Because of this, the Africans were able to adapt and use what was available to them, just as they had done during the lean times in Africa. As soul food restaurants became more common in larger cities, so did the foods among not only the black communities, but all people. “Though soul food originated in the South, soul food restaurants — from fried chicken and fish "shacks" to upscale dining establishments-are in every African-American community in the nation, especially in cities with large black populations, such as Chicago, New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Washington,
The diet of the average person in the United States can be seen as less than ideal to anyone who has knowledge of nutrition and proper diet. According to Center For Science In the Public Interest (CSPINET), the diet of the an average individual in America is said to lead to increase the risk of many diseases. This is due to the amount of saturated fat, sodium, calories, and added sugar (para. 1). In 2016, Frerichs, Intolubbe-Chmil, Trowbridge, Brittin, Teitelbaum, & Huang, explain that the factors of
It became so clear that junk foods lead to a punch of catastrophic diseases like obesity, type two diabetes, vascular diseases and cardiac disorders. Those kinds of diseases cost more than $150 billion annually, just to diagnose, treat people who suffer from them. That disease is chronic and leads to many health-related issues, for example, obesity considers a risk factor for type two diabetes, and high blood pressure, joint disorders and many others (The Denver Post 2012). The key of preventing many chronic problems is nutrition. Low income plays an important role of limiting most people to buy and eat a healthy diet and in the other hand, it is easy for people budgets to purchase junk foods. So controlling the prices of healthy foods to be suitable for all people make good nutrition available for everyone. Adequate diets mean decreasing the epidemic of those serious diseases, and stopping the spread and break the bad sequences that may happen. Long-term exposure to junk foods that are full with chemicals like additives, preservatives have led to chronic illnesses difficult to treat. Also, the chemical added to junk foods are tasted unique and made millions of people becoming addicted to them and are available everywhere for example in restaurants, cafes, lunchrooms (The Denver Post