Soul Food Essay

Food has been used as a tool by many cultures as movements to help with their culture become recognized, to identify their way of being, and to show their class and status. By exploring different author’s articles, and movie clips this will be visible. Food has created many cultures to explore these outlets and in return has had a positive impact on their culture.
In “The Chitlin Circuit: The Origins and Meanings of Soul and Soul Food” by Opie. The author emphasizes on how a restaurant that sold chitlin and soul food transformed into a place where African American artist can go and perform for their fans. This restaurant transformed the ways in which food can be utilized to gather people and showcase talent. The food was a way to bring people

The American boyfriend’s family came for the first time to meet his Greek girlfriend’s family as they were roasting a huge pig in the lawn. The Greek family was large; and had the blue, white Greek flag on the lawn standing tall. The foodways in this film represented the Greek culture. In a scene the Greek girlfriend tells her aunt that her American boyfriend does not eat meat, she responds my saying “He don’t eat meat? That’s ok, I make lamb” (clip of video from class). Meat is the main food product for Greeks, so for her to be so embedded into her culture to not think that other people can’t eat meat was fascinating and it displays her way of identifying with her own culture. The movie was a way for the Greek culture to show how they identified with food and their way of being. This clip connects with the Smithsonian Folk life Festival (clip of video from class). Every year cultures have the opportunity to broadcast their culture through food, music, language and art at the Smithsonian Folk like Festival. The festival is a movement and helps cultures who are not often known or presented to become recognized, by the displaying of the foodways of that origin. Having this type of resource is a way where people can learn about the culture through a more personalized lens. This festival is an opportunity for cultures to become recognized and to identify their way of