Body and Soul Food

[MarketStEl]

Newsweek feature on a new wave in soul food, passed on to me by Gifted Gourmet Melissa Goodman:

A new generation of African Americans, including Lindsey Williams, grandson of the legendary Sylvia Woods, are turning out healthier variations on the traditional Southern-influenced dishes that we know as "soul food". Apparently, it's a life-and-death matter:

Such down-home cooking, with its heavy doses of salt, sugar and fat, can contribute to toxic effects like high blood pressure and diabetes, both of which strike black Americans at significantly higher rates than whites. Now entrepreneurs like Williams, nutritionists and even pastors are on a mission to improve African-American diets, not by condemning their rich culinary heritage, but by reinventing time-honored recipes. Williams's new cookbook, "Neo Soul," is now hitting bookstores. Dietitians are teaching family chefs how to flavor collard greens with smoked turkey instead of pork fat. And around the country, black churches are serving up healthy homilies ("Your body is the temple of God") along with nutritious Sunday dinners: baked chicken and fruit, not fried chicken and biscuits. "There are many great qualities in soul food," says Roniece Weaver, of Hebni Nutrition Consultants in Orlando, Fla. "The problem is the way we prepare it."

The funny thing is, I think this is one of those trends that has been bubbling up from below for some time now. Both when shopping for myself and when picking up ingredients as a favor for friends, I've never in the past ten years bought hamhocks for flavoring collard, mustard or turnip greens--it's always been smoked turkey for me, and smoked turkey is what I've been asked to get. And while fried chicken still rules the roost at times, roasted and baked chicken make far more frequent appearances around my house. And I usually keep America's Choice frozen, not Glory or Sylvia's canned, greens on hand for when the mood to cook greens strikes. (Note to self: Pick up an envelope of Wiley's seasonings on the next trip to the Super Fresh.)

Could it be that my brothas and sistas have already gotten wise to the effects of traditional soul cooking on their bodies, and the top chefs and journalists are only now catching up? Or is this just another passing trend sparked by those at the top?

Edited January 25, 2006 by MarketStEl (log)

[JasmineL]

This is a subject of great interest to me. I am of African-Canadian heritage (Zambian and Irish/Scottish)...so I was raised with a different cuisine than folks down south. However, my sister's dad is from a large African-American family and since he has been a part of our lives for 12+ years, I have been exposed to a lot of "soul food".

In my house, the "soul food" is definitely modified. We do the smoked turkey thing with our collard greens and we do a lot of meat on the BBQ all year round. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the quantity of food my sister's dad will cook, mounds and mounds of meat!

[mizducky]

Y'know, I was going to express a certain skepticism as to whether smoked turkey parts were really all that healthier than ham hocks, but then I did a little research on www.calorieking.com, and discovered that smoked turkey parts are indeed significantly lower in calories and fat than hamhocks (per oz.: ham hocks--90 calories, 6.5g fat; smoked turkey leg--59 calories, 2.8g fat).

In the immediate wake of my foodblog feeding frenzy, I have just been saddled by my HMO with a "healthy eating" plan, and my intention is to figure out how to make it as enjoyable as possible so it won't either make me crazy or make me quit. So using products like smoked turkey will be a big help in that effort. (Though I'm still going to give myself permission to indulge in the pork products for an occasional treat--that's part of the "not making me crazy" aspect of the operation.)

[Kris]

This trend to make healthier versions of traditional AA soul food dishes has been around at least a decade. Jonelle Nash who is the food editor of Essence magazine has been offering "lighter" soul food recipes in the mag for years. She also has two cookbooks, both of which feature these types of recipes.

Personally I'm not a fan of this trend. The food just doesn't taste as good. Since my dad doesn't eat pork, my mom has been making collards with smoked turkey for decades. But they just don't measure up to those made with pork.

Truth to be told, I could probably benefit from the healthy soul food trend since I'm in the demographic that's at risk for developing the aforementioned illnesses.

However I don't cook or eat soul food on a regular basis. So when I do eat it for special occasions/holidays, I prefer the regular thing. So give me my collards with hamhocks, my mac & cheese with regular full-fat cheese & milk and my peach cobbler with plenty of butter & sugar.

[mrbigjas]

I've never in the past ten years bought hamhocks for flavoring collard, mustard or turnip greens--it's always been smoked turkey for me, and smoked turkey is what I've been asked to get.  And while fried chicken still rules the roost at times, roasted and baked chicken make far more frequent appearances around my house.  And I usually keep America's Choice frozen, not Glory or Sylvia's canned, greens on hand for when the mood to cook greens strikes.

sylvia's totally uses smoked turkey in their greens, don't they?

[MarketStEl]

I've never in the past ten years bought hamhocks for flavoring collard, mustard or turnip greens--it's always been smoked turkey for me, and smoked turkey is what I've been asked to get.  And while fried chicken still rules the roost at times, roasted and baked chicken make far more frequent appearances around my house.  And I usually keep America's Choice frozen, not Glory or Sylvia's canned, greens on hand for when the mood to cook greens strikes.

sylvia's totally uses smoked turkey in their greens, don't they?

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Now I'm gonna have to check the ingredients list on the can next time I see one.

[divalasvegas]

I'm with you Kris. IMHO it's not soul food that's solely at fault for the higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and so forth among Black folks. I mean that would imply that there's a ton of home cooked soul food happening on a daily basis and I don't think that's the case at all. It's the same reasons as for the rest of the nation: too much reliance on snack foods, fast foods, convenience foods especially in lower income neighborhoods. In addition, look around many lower income neighborhoods and what do you see: Wendy's, Burger King, KFC, McDonald's. Grocery stores? Well at least in this area they predominantly populate the suburbs and the newly "gentrified" areas. Also, there are definitely deficiencies in access and quality of health care for many Black people in America. And like anyone else we're all more sedentary than our predecessors. My mother and those before her grew up on farms, neither a sedentary nor easy life. Everything about their daily lives was hard, physical labor. Want to do the laundry? Well first you had to gather wood, build a fire, prime the pump, tote buckets and buckets of water from the well, fill up the washtub and put it on the fire, break out your scrub board and get to work. Not exactly the same as popping a few coins in the machines at your local laundromat, is it?

I'm not knocking this new movement. But I do take offense at those pointing their fingers at soul food, however one may define it, as the main culprit for the health woes of African-Americans. And I take further offense at their need to "guilt" people into doing or seeing things their way. Completely abandoning the foods of your forefathers (and mothers) means a loss of other things, not just calories. For instance, I only make sweet potato pie a couple of times a year. When I prepare it to the best of my memory the way my mother did I use butter, sugar, whipping cream and a couple of other things I'm sure the neo-soul food police would not approve of. I really don't give a damn. You see when I prepare it this way I can remember standing next to my mother as she was stirring, adding ingredients and asking me to taste the sweet potato batter and asking did I think it needed more of this or more of that before it went into the pie shells. I remember how every time she made it she would say "oh I don't think it's my best." And I remember how it will always be the best sweet potato pie I have ever eaten. Vegetable oil, Splenda, and skim milk or lowfat yogurt just ain't gonna cut it for me either in taste or memories.

[mrbigjas]

sylvia's totally uses smoked turkey in their greens, don't they?

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Now I'm gonna have to check the ingredients list on the can next time I see one.

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me too--i thought i had a can in the cupboard, but it's just beans (smoke flavoring, not any meat). and the website is totally done on the cheap--they have a stock can image and just change the overlay on it depending on what you click. no ingredient lists that i can find.

[Kris]

I'm with you Kris.  IMHO it's not soul food that's solely at fault for the higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and so forth among Black folks.  I mean that would imply that there's a ton of home cooked soul food happening on a daily basis and I don't think that's the case at all.  It's the same reasons as for the rest of the nation: too much reliance on snack foods, fast foods, convenience foods especially in lower income neighborhoods.  In addition, look around many lower income neighborhoods and what do you see: Wendy's, Burger King, KFC, McDonald's.  Grocery stores? Well at least in this area they predominantly populate the suburbs and the newly "gentrified" areas.  Also, there are definitely deficiencies in access and quality of health care for many Black people in America.  And like anyone else we're all more sedentary than our predecessors.  My mother and those before her grew up on farms, neither a sedentary nor easy life.  Everything about their daily lives was hard, physical labor.  Want to do the laundry? Well first you had to gather wood, build a fire, prime the pump, tote buckets and buckets of water from the well, fill up the washtub and put it on the fire, break out your scrub board and get to work.  Not exactly the same as popping a few coins in the machines at your local laundromat, is it?

I'm not knocking this new movement.  But I do take offense at those pointing their fingers at soul food, however one may define it, as the main culprit for the health woes of African-Americans.  And I take further offense at their need to "guilt" people into doing or seeing things their way.  Completely abandoning the foods of your forefathers (and mothers) means a loss of other things, not just calories.  For instance, I only make sweet potato pie a couple of times a year.  When I prepare it to the best of my memory the way my mother did I use butter, sugar, whipping cream and a couple of other things I'm sure the neo-soul food police would not approve of.  I really don't give a damn.  You see when I prepare it this way I can  remember standing next to my mother as she was stirring, adding ingredients and asking me to taste the sweet potato batter and asking did I think it needed more of this or more of that before it went into the pie shells.  I remember how every time she made it she would say "oh I don't think it's my best."  And I remember how it will always be the best sweet potato pie I have ever eaten.  Vegetable oil, Splenda, and skim milk or lowfat yogurt just ain't gonna cut it for me either in taste or memories.

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Wow! I agree with your post 100%. You've basically captured my feelings on the subject.

To me, soul food isn't just about the food - it's about the memories, tradition and legacy that has been passed down through the generations.

Truth to be told, I'm not overweight with borderline blood pressure due to soul food. Throughout the years I've been a fast food junkie, have a sweet tooth, hate to exercise and haven't quite mastered the concept of proper portion sizes of whatever food I was eating. I think these things are more responsible for the obesity rates, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension rates in the black community more so than just eating soul food.

As a youngster, soul food wasn't what my mom cooked on a day-to-day basis. And in my own household now, it's the same thing. It was holiday and special occasion food (that's probably why I have such fond memories of it).

I cook fresh collards with hamhocks exactly ONCE a year - and that's for Thanksgiving. I usually make a lot so I freeze 1/2 of the batch for Christmas. Mac & Cheese, I make once every quarter or so, if that frequently; candied yams even less. Sweet potato pie, pecan pie and peach cobbler I make once a year as well. I make fried chicken & "homestyle" potato salad more frequently (probably about once or twice a month), but that's still not every day.

I think in most aspects of life, moderation is the key. Plus I think that saving these traditional recipes (made in their full fat, full flavored versions) for holidays and special occasions make them even that more special and worth savoring. Soul food is all about family, traditions and nourishment of the soul as well as the belly.

If I had to eat a sweet potato pie with splenda, skim milk and margarine - I would rather gouge my eyes out with a fork. I'm exaggerating of course, but not by much.