Soul Food

[Jason Perlow]

Joyce, thanks so much for joining us this week!

My question for you is thus -- what makes Soul Food what it is? How does it differ from "Southern" or "Creole" or even Caribbean island cuisine, such as Jamaican food which share many of the associated flavors and ingredients? Is it a subset or confluence of those food genres? Or is it simply the combined comfort food and traditions of people of African descent regardless of where they live? Or is it specifically the food of the African-American diaspora?

[souljoy]

Hi Jason,

Thanks so much for having me here. I am really enjoying this forum. And I love your complex questions. Not surprisingly; soul food isn't a simple topic.

Many influences shaped the cuisine of the Old South, where African-American soul food was born. Native Americans were already there. European settlers came, some bearing slaves from Africa, other with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Later, French settlers from Acadia, known as Cajuns today, migrated to the South, particularly Louisiana and parts of Mississippi and Alabama, from Canada. And of course, this was the pattern through out the Americas, where the food is very similar to Soul Food, USA.

I remember spending some time in Brazil years ago and was startled to discover that the country's national dish, Feijoada, was so like the pot of beans, and pork and collard greens that I ate at home in Alabama. The same can be said of much of the food in the Caribbean.

A key point to remember: African slaves did the majority of the cooking in all of these regions, and of course, the final product is and was similar, bearing varied nuances.