When something or someone lacks soul, void of substance and spirit comes to mind for many. While easily considered the spiritual life line of human existence, soul food emerged from a necessity to survive in spite of extreme oppression of the soul. The souls of an entire race of people. And, while necessity as the mother of invention brought forth a cuisine steeped in celebration, more important, survival was the backbone of perhaps America ’ s first cannon of healthful food.
A n American culinary historian, lawyer and public policy advisor, Adrian Miller penned his first book, Soul Food, which won the 2014 James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship. He suggests dropping the notion that delicacies such as fried chicken and mac-n-cheese are front and center of this vegetable-forward, Black American palate. With a primarily vegan larder and variety meats used only to season, “ as the idea of meat as an entree just didn ’ t happen. Enslaved cooks had more access to celebration on the weekends,” he says.
In a slave ’ s garden, Miller explains that there would have been lots of dark leafy greens, root vegetables, and other nutrient-dense foods. Collards, sweet potatoes, peanuts, and fish from nearby waterways, for example, were foods that enslaved people found nourishment without being punished for “ stealing” from their masters.
When recipes were eventually brought out of the South during the Great Migration, interpretations lent more toward the celebration foods Americans typically associate with soul food. “ In the US, what we often think of for any immigrant is their celebration food. Once they prosper, they remember the good times. If you are a restauranteur, you feature the best,” Miller explains.
And, as we humans are social beings, Miller emphasizes that soul food “ builds community and forms connection.”
Newly appointed editor-in-chief of Cook ’ s Country Magazine, Toni Tipton-Martin agrees with Miller adding, “ African-American cooking is almost always talked about as soul food, and yet its history is much richer, more varied, and deeper than that one story.” In a moment when the issue of African-American cultural ownership is a very relevant topic, James Beard Award-Winning Tipton-Martin most recently received the Trailblazer award and Book of the Year from The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) for her latest book, Jubilee- Recipes From Two Centuries of African American Cooking.
“ As I knelt on the cool hardwood floor in my home office, surrounded by books that span nearly two hundred years of black cooking, I realized my ancestors had left us a very special gift: a gift of freedom, culinary freedom. And like the Biblical Jubilee that arks restoration of a people through deliverance, rest, and land conservation, and like Jubilee Day celebrations marking the emancipation of enslaved Americans, our culinary Jubilee is also about liberation and resilience,” she writes in Jubilee ’ s introduction.
Jubilee features a wealth of recipes inspired by enslaved master chefs, free caterers, and black entrepreneurs and culinary stars, along with the stories illustrating that soul food is just one component of African-American cuisine. Tipton-Martin hopes that the reader will cook through the book thinking of such dishes akin to a “ sultry gubo: built, perhaps, on a foundation of humble sustenance, but layered with spice, flavors, and aromas, embellished by the whim and the skills of the cook, served with grace and richness as well as love.”
The year 2020 has been one of great reckoning. One packed with not only a global pandemic, but also of strife as we reach for better when it comes to equality and beyond. And, when it comes to recognizing the hands that have built what modern day soul food evolved to be, Miller says, “ The places that can afford publicists that are connected to the tastemakers are those who get seen. Being overwhelmed, all that stuff looks like one more thing. Because of recent events, there have been a lot of calls to support black businesses.”
If your New Year ’ s resolutions include awareness, this call could not be more relevant. With a host of Black-owned restaurants, soul food and otherwise to choose from, be sure to explore this important landscape of American cuisine.
Still, as many plot their attack to finally combat those extra COVID pounds, consider the OG of healthful food part of your daily diet. But, when you ’ re ready to celebrate the joys of life, look no further than the soul of what sustains with one of these recipes from Tipton-Martin and Miller.
