Soul Food: escaping its bonds in the South

[Gifted Gourmet]

Lately I have read about what purports to be a new wave, as it were, of northern and northwestern cities making old fashioned soul food into a nonregionally specific cuisine which is adapted to their own locales.

To cite two such examples, I found a couple of articles on this phenomenon: one from Detroit and one from Portland, Oregon.

Detroit Free Press had this article on Magnolia which best demonstrates my point:

At Magnolia, though, Taylor steps up and takes the concept all the way home. On white tablecloths, in a room as lush and sumptuous as any in town, he offers the likes of smothered pork chops and buttermilk-fried Carolina catfish, black-eyed peas and fried okra, peach cobbler and sweet potato pie, for an average dinner check, he says, of about $20.

Magnolia offers all you'd expect at a classic soul food restaurant, plus several dishes with Louisiana and Texas accents, and some entree salads, sandwiches and pastas for diners who want a more middle-of-the-road meal. The menu is the same at lunch and dinner.

the $9 Magnolia Sampler -- three pieces each of salmon croquettes, catfish nuggets, jumbo chicken wings and fried dill pickle strips, which weren't bad . . .

and in the snows of a wintery Detroit, in November or December, this might just be what hungry diners are seeking....

Then, in Portland, is this soul food gem:

Bernie's Southern Bistro does Southern staples just right — buttermilk fried chicken, smothered steak, Cajun BBQ shrimp with cheddar grits, hush puppies, melt-in-the-mouth, cornmeal-encrusted oysters, fried green tomatoes, tasty greens, plus a few surprises (fried pickles?). Dine in the candlelit garden for a romantic evening.

Bernie's Southern Bistro

So, herein lies my question, which you knew I would get around to sometime soon, what is it that is driving this "soul food trend" that we are seeing today?

Is your city experiencing something similar? If so, please offer us some insight and information. Who has this type of food there?

[Suzanne F]

Do you really think it's a "new" phenomenon in cities that have substantial African-American populations, of which Detroit is certainly one of the most major?

Perhaps the phenomenon is more in places that do NOT have such populations? Or that this cuisine is now being presented in "white-tablecloth" restaurants (I think here in NYC Ida-Mae's is like that, although I've not been)?

[Gifted Gourmet]

Do you really think it's a "new" phenomenon in cities that have substantial African-American populations, of which Detroit is certainly one of the most major?

Perhaps the phenomenon is more in places that do NOT have such populations? Or that this cuisine is now being presented in "white-tablecloth" restaurants (I think here in NYC Ida-Mae's is like that, although I've not been)?

The latter, Suzanne, and it came as a surprise to me based upon that ...

[robyn]

I went to a "soul food" restaurant in Beverly Hills a while back that was owned/operated by a backetball player (I think he was famous but I can't remember his name). It was a beautiful restaurant - but the food was mediocre. Guess people will try anything "new" for kicks. Robyn

[phaelon56]

It doesn't seem that new to me. NYC has had Soul Cafe for years. It's decidely upscale and the food's not bad but at $20 for fried chicken and $5 for a side dish of collard greens, they survive only by volume of the large population in NYC.

Maroon's in Chelsea also has a soul food menu but it's balanced by Jamaican dishes (another cuisine not typically seen in white tablecloth upscale joints). They do very well and it's a nice mix - both the food and the clientele.

In smaller cities people who know and love soul food by virtue of their upbringing or cultural experience are often less inclined to pay those prices for what is perceived as home-cooking. My African-American friends and acquaintances love to go out for dinner at "nice" places but prefer to do so for food other than what they grew up eating and still have at home on the holidays. Perhaps the situation is different in larger metro markets that have more folks with adequate discretionary income. When they don't feel like cooking and want "home style" food they'll get take-out from a soul food joint but "nice" dinners out (at least here in the Northeast) tend to be reserved for other types of cuisine.

Syracuse NY, where I presently reside, had an upscale soul food restaurant for a year or so back in the early 90's. Despite moderately high prices, many in the local community made an active effort to support and patronize it regularly but they just didn't do a good enough job with the food or service and lasted less than a year.

[Mayhaw Man]

If you dig a bit you will find some very interesting discussions surrounding this topic in The eGullet Q&A with Cookbook Author Joyce White and a little bit more about the roots of Southern Food in this thread about Southern Foods. Is they or Ain't they.

And in my opinion, the idea that "Soul Food" (incidentally, I really hate that term as a catchall for these types of foods) is evolving and using whatever is available in a given locale, be it up North or otherwise, is exactly what SHOULD be happening. If you are a believer that this type of food has it's roots in the Carribean and Africa and was brought here mostly during the nineteenth century (as I am) then you can easily understand my belief that this food has been evolving ever since it hit the shore in North America. While okra (yeah, I know I talk about okra too much, but it's helping me make my point ) was probably brought here from Africa through the Carribean, many of the ingredients that are now considered "soul food" would have been more or less unavailable to the average person who was brought here as a slave or indentured servant (chicken is a prime example, as I am pretty sure that it was not a domestically raised fowl in West Africa prior to the twentieth century-I believe that livestock, promarily cattle and goats, would have made up the domestically raised part of the West African diet).

Those people sure enough weren't eating red velvet cake and macaroni and cheese. That's evolution!

In Southern Foods, Is they or ain't they-there are several good points made about how the food moved northward and what happened to it in the first and second halves of the twentieth century. Go read it. It will give you more ammo to discuss this here.

I love this topic. Thanks for bringing it up.

[hathor]

Reading thru Mayhaw Man's thoughtful reply, I have a question: is Southern food snyonymous with Soul Food? I can see Soul Food as having the Afro-Caribbean essence, but that does that make Southern food strictly regional based on access to ingredients?

[hathor]

It doesn't seem that new to me. NYC has had Soul Cafe for years. It's decidely upscale and the food's not bad but at $20 for fried chicken and $5 for a side dish of collard greens, they survive only by volume of the large population in NYC.

Maroon's in Chelsea also has a soul food menu but it's balanced by Jamaican dishes (another cuisine not typically seen in white tablecloth upscale joints). They do very well and it's a nice mix - both the food and the clientele.

In smaller cities people who know and love soul food by virtue of their upbringing or cultural experience are often less inclined to pay those prices for what is perceived as home-cooking. My African-American friends and acquaintances love to go out for dinner at "nice" places but prefer to do so for food other than what they grew up eating and still have at home on the holidays. Perhaps the situation is different in larger metro markets that have more folks with adequate discretionary income. When they don't feel like cooking and want "home style" food they'll get take-out from a soul food joint but "nice" dinners out (at least here in the Northeast) tend to be reserved for other types of cuisine.

Syracuse NY, where I presently reside, had an upscale soul food restaurant for a year or so back in the early 90's. Despite moderately high prices, many in the local community made an active effort to support and patronize it regularly but they just didn't do a good enough job with the food or service and lasted less than a year.

What about the Pink Tea Cup in the village? Is that still there? And does anyone remember West Boondocks on 19th and 10th Ave? Their collard greens were amazing. Not to mention the music and decor! No white table cloth's that's for sure.

But I think you have a point that you need a large enough ethnic population to support good ethnic foods, whether its soul food, Chinese, Indian or whatever; otherwise you end up with homogenized-Americanized versions of ethnic food.

[Mabelline]

Yeah, but don't youall reckon those recipes and methods came up no'th with the mammies from the kitchens? Their recipes were in their heads. You don't think the lady of the house was the one to bake up a Lane Cake or Pra-leens?

[Mabelline]

Yeah, but don't youall reckon those recipes and methods came up no'th with the mammies from the kitchens? Their recipes were in their heads. You don't think the lady of the house was the one to bake up a Lane Cake or Pra-leens?

[Mayhaw Man]

Reading thru Mayhaw Man's thoughtful reply, I have a question: is Southern food snyonymous with Soul Food? I can see Soul Food as having the Afro-Caribbean essence, but that does that make Southern food strictly regional based on access to ingredients?

I think that Soul Food (as we know it today) and Southern Food (as we know it today in the very general sense) are different sums of many of the same parts, but not the same thing. I am going to ruminate on this a bit and post a more thorough response (read this as I am cooking to beat the clock right now), but I honestly believe that those two terms do not mean the same thing, although there are many elements in common.

I also believe, pretty strongly, that Southern Food and Soul Food have developed not only because of access to ingredients, but also because of the very diverse cultures that existed here in the early 19th century and because of the influx of various immigrant groups (for various reasons, some good, some horribly wrong) in the mid and late nineteenth century that were basically eating whatever they could to survive there was a lot of cross pollenation of the cooking pots. I can tell you that poor is poor and until WW2 and a mass immigration North for both black and white Southerners just about everybody in the rural South was poor-it wasn't all Tara down here, not by a long shot. And when you have mouths to feed you eat what's there and make the best of it, and if it happens to be like what your neighbor is eating down the road that has as much to do with the available foodstuffs, similar food prep stiuations, and cost than it does with any historical/cultural circumstances.

[Mabelline]

Exactly. And, during the carpetbagger times, people don't realise that all the major wooden courthouses were burnt down so that, effectively, people could NOT be thrown off their land, because there was no record. But it was a time of starvin'. The South was bled. In a particularly vicious way. The people there, however, got through it. The lace glove ladies were helpin' run a spy network.

That is soul food. Period.

[Mayhaw Man]

Yeah, but don't youall reckon those recipes and methods came up no'th with the mammies from the kitchens? Their recipes were in their heads. You don't think the lady of the house was the one to bake up a Lane Cake or Pra-leens?

Precious little went up North until during and after WW1 and really not until labor shortages forced Northern Factory owners to recruit workers in the South during the first year of the American involvement in the Second World War. Around 1942 there were alot more people going North to work in Chicago and Detroit than there were staying here. That's where the jobs were. Even during the most massive building campaign in the history of mankind the Southern United States could not sustain and industrial economy of any real import, as the infrastructure was almost wholly agriculturally based. The factories were already there in the North, but instead of making Buicks and Studebakers they were making Shermans and B-17's.

And I know to an absolute certainty that "the lady of the house" as you put it, could flat cook her ass off. That's the way it was. No woman of any stature failed to learn how to cook well or at least be competant in the kitchen. Women who were useless around the kitchen were totally out of the norm. It's funny, my favorite aunt died last year at 98. She didn't cook a lick, and until this very moment I never considered that my family always considered her to be an odd bird. (I didn't. She was great fun) Maybe that's why they all felt that way.

Oddly, most of the women who were raised in the early half of the century that I knew could cook very, very well, but they couldn't make candy for love or money. On the other hand, the ones that couldn't cook were great at sweets. I have no clue why that is, but I can think of a number of examples. I do know that most women of any color down here who were raised in the first half of the century could cook, and they cooked the same stuff alot of the time-availability and preference and cost all weigh in there to some degree, I suppose.

[Mabelline]

Well now, Brooks, don't try to tell me that black women didn't know more than their mistresses, and don't try to tell me there were not Southern recipes up North.

Do not tell me that in a plantation cookshed the mammies did not know more than their mistress. And all in their head....

[Squeat Mungry]

Oddly, most of the women who were raised in the early half of the century that I knew could cook very, very well, but they couldn't make candy for love or money. On the other hand, the ones that couldn't cook were great at sweets. I have no clue why that is, but I can think of a number of examples.

Odd you should bring this up, Brooks. In my mom's family, all the women were terrific cooks, and did all the day-to-day cooking, but it was the men who always made the candy. I never even wondered about it before now -- that's just the way it always was!

Squeat

[Mabelline]

What about pralines? They certainly were not cooked by White Men?

[Mayhaw Man]

Well now, Brooks, don't try to tell me that black women didn't know more than their mistresses, and don't try to tell me there were not Southern recipes up North.

Do not tell me that in a plantation cookshed the mammies did not know more than their mistress. And all in their head....

What I am saying, as clearly as possible, is that there was a cross culturalization going on in the South that began before 1800 and that contunues to this day. I would also like to point out that most people did not live on a plantation, anymore than everybody in Dallas lives in Highland Park or people in New Orleans live in the Garden District. Most people, before and after the Civil War and until World War 2 lived on very small farms, owned almost exclusively by others, and were very, very poor. It was a common condition and that was the way that it was. Race draws no lines when it comes to rural poverty.

And frankly, all of this talk about mammies and such makes me very uncomfortable. I have spent a large part of my life living in, and studying, the rural deep South and I know that much of what others think of me and the people I grew up around has been influencedby a few books and movies and has very little to do with actual living conditions. Life here was not Gone with the Wind. Not ever, at least not in the general sense.

Everybody, anybody, who could afford to leave here for the North or the West for money and a more comfortable life did so. It was hard here and that has only really changed in the last 30 years. The food that we are discussing here, and we are discussing food, is what people eat now in the North. They are eating Soul Food Southern Food because it is good and because it is familiar. The same as any immigrant group and just in the same way others not native to the South are coming to enjoy it as they do food from other groups of immigrants.

[Squeat Mungry]

What about pralines? They certainly were not cooked by White Men?

They certainly were in our family, though we just called it 'brittle'. And I know it wasn't just the generation before mine, too, because my Mom used to talk about her daddy making candy.

[Varmint]

First, I'm moving this thread to the Southeast Forum, because that's where it truly belongs.

Second, and only slightly off topic, I'm wondering where much of the Southern cooking of my grandparents' generation came from? We're not talking soul food in the sense that has been discussed above, but more like the church covered dish type of cuisine. I need to check out my copy of John T. Edge's, A Gracious Plenty, as that book focuses on recipes from Southern church cookbooks. Anyhow, that type of Southern cuisine is fairly different from what is called soul food.

[therese]

Most people, before and after the Civil War and until World War 2 lived on very small farms, owned almost exclusively by others, and were very, very poor. It was a common condition and that was the way that it was. Race draws no lines when it comes to rural poverty.

And frankly, all of this talk about mammies and such makes me very uncomfortable. I have spent a large part of my life living in, and studying, the rural deep South and I know that much of what others think of me and the people I grew up around has been influencedby a few books and movies and has very little to do with actual living conditions. Life here was not Gone with the Wind. Not ever, at least not in the general sense.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mayhaw Man.

You've saved me from all that typing, and probably kept me from having a hemorrhagic stroke as well.

Oh, and if you want to get a really clear impression of just how screwed up people are in other parts of the country when it comes to understanding the southeast, try driving a car with Georgia plates around Palo Alto, CA. Everybody's amazed that I speak English and wear shoes, and they can't understand why I insist on talking to the slaves (aka Latino and Asian worker bees, essentially invisible).

[ludja]

Yeah, but don't youall reckon those recipes and methods came up no'th with the mammies from the kitchens? Their recipes were in their heads. You don't think the lady of the house was the one to bake up a Lane Cake or Pra-leens?

Actually, as regards baking, it is interesting to read Bill Neal and Damon Lee Fowler (Biscuits, Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie and Classical Southern Cooking, respectively).

Keep in mind that the period they are writing of in their books is the 19th century; especially before the War and has more to do with how Southern desserts evolved at that time. I can't do justice in a few words to all their scholarship, but in baking, the southern tradition is most heavily influenced by English Cooking--of course, eventually adapted by Southern ingredients, available cooking methods and also African cooks. Fowler describes Southern cooking at this time as a "complicated mix based on the union of two predominate elements: English cooking and African cooks".

In Classical Southern Cooking there is a great introductory chapter that speaks in detail about the major influence of African cooks and English traditions mixing together. Here is his quote on Southern baking:

"This aspect of the Southern kitchen strays the least from its Anglo roots and is also the one over which the African cook had the least control. Baking remained a primary responsibility of the white mistress, often to the point that she actually did it herself. And while other aspects of the cookery changed--sometimes radically--baking, especially sweets remained solidly English, varying little from that of other regions of the country"

This probably changed later on; ie in the 20th century as people hired cooks or cooked for themselves or were working themselves, but I thought it was an interesting point when I had read it earlier. Also, it doesn't relate directly to the discussion of how Southern desserts may have migrated out of the South. Something like pralines may have been one of the more "indigenous" sweets.

[phaelon56]

What about the Pink Tea Cup in the village? Is that still there?

Yeah - it's still there and I usually get there once a year or so. I didin't mention it because the original topic was targeted at the soul food influence in more upscale establishments. The Pink Tea Cup is just a real basic "meat 'n three" place transplanted to NYC - except you only get two sides. I guess their weekend breakfasts are still monstrously busy. I go for dinner when I'm on a budget. Small green salad, cup of soup, meat, two sides and bread pudding or jello. The whole shootin' match runs about $10 - $15 depending on what meat you pick - not bad for NYC.

The real howl was the time I had a very inexperienced waiter. I order the sauteed chicken livers and out comes a big-ass hunk of calves liver with gravy (maybe even beef liver - it was big). I called him back over and pointed out that I ordered chicken livers. His response: "No.... you don't understand.... this is a soul food restaurant - every thing is big. We don't serve anything small here - our chicken livers aren't little like the ones you'd get somewhere else.". I sent them back and spotted the cook looking out at me - he rolled his eyes and smiled an exasperated smile as if to say "these kids - what're you gonna do?".

The chicken livers were excellent as usual.

[fierydrunk]

I don't get the Bernie's thing--I am from Memphis and now live in Portland and don't know anyone who has ever eaten at Bernie's. I can tell you it is a fancified restaurant on a gentrified street that used to be an exclusively African-American neighborhood.

Unfortunately, the soul food spots here tend to not be that good and there are only a few still remaining in the still remaining African-American neighborhoods (slowly but surely gentrifying and dilluting that culture). I think I am a soul food/southern food snob growing up in Memphis and I can just cook that stuff up at home!

The real shocker is how much soul food costs here! YOW! $9 for a meat and 2 sides--small servings too--is typical at the small joints.

[mighty quinn]

if you want to experience a true dichotomy in "soul food," just cruise through downtown richmond, va. on broad street. "comfort" is all hardwood bar and nice table settings and $12 entrees (good and cheap by my "fine dining" standards) this restaurant is patronized by a completely different crowd than the folks going to the fried fish/fried chicken takeouts surrounding it. i think diners in richmond would consider it all "soul food." BTW, anyone visiting richmond should try "Comfort." some of the yummiest roasted beets i've ever had! when my cholesterol is down to something reasonable i'll be hitting the fish joints on broad street too.

[joiei]

Having grown up in the far deep south, my mom did cook the Lane cake and made the pralines and the Jeff Davis pie. We did not have a Mammy. We were too poor. There were a few families in town who did have maids, but not that many.

As for soul food, didn't that term begin to be used in the 60's?

We grew up eating Southern food. And it was a conglomeration of food identified as soul food, and church food. My mom did cook her specialities for "Dinner on the Grounds" and " Family Reunions". All of that stuff was just normal. And Dinner was lunch and Supper was the evening meal.

Cuisines do spread when people move about. Look at all the Tex-Mex places found outside of Texas. So considering now many persons of southern heritage who no longer live there, the food is bound to be found where ever there is a large gathering of Southerners. Not all southern cooks are good cooks, my mom was a mediocre cook, i found out after leaving home.

I would guess that when the novelty of eating home food out and paying for it is over, then a number of people will just eat at home and go out for Italian.