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Discover Soul Food

Section: Food

Gregory Cartier

Even before it had a name, soul food was around. Comfort food, peasant food, the food of love, la cucina di mama ; soul food has always been the most profound expression of doing the best you can with what you have available. In hard times, some of the best dishes we now know and love -- and sometimes even shell out mucho dinero for at fancy restaurants -- were the products of sheer luck and ingenuity. Cassoulet, latkes, shepherd's pie, coq au vin, Vietnamese Pho, empanadas... these were all creations of necessity, not some noble concoctions, no matter how posh we make them look today.

Of course, when we refer to soul food now, it is for the most part understood that we mean the food of the Old South, the evolution of slave food, and the food that best represents a vestige of African culinary customs.

Certain dishes immediately come to mind: macaroni and cheese, sweet potato pie, chitlins, corn bread, collard greens, catfish, and red beans and rice. Indeed, much of what we recognize as soul food today is derived from ingredients indigenous to Africa and the Caribbean, as well as the scraps that were on hand in the times of slaves. Eggplant, garlic, legumes, okra, onion, pumpkin, sorghum, watermelon, yams, and even certain grains were all brought to North America from Africa. In addition, animal parts that were undesirable to slave masters, such as tripe, were common in the slave kitchen.

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