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Step Up Your Greens Game!

13 Jun

When asked about flavor profiles it’s rare to hear folks respond enthusiastically that they “love bitter.” Bitter is one of the four basic tastes that our taste buds identify along with sweet, salty, and sour. Your affinity for bitter is influenced by taste experiences, culture, and environment. Bitter plays several roles—it can signal toxins and something that […]

June is National Soul Food Month!

1 Jun

Leading up to National Soul food Month, I’ve noticed a boom in interest in the food, people, restaurants and foodways of this American cuisine. Shunned years ago, one can now “Google It.” This search produces more than 600,000 entries in seconds; need more info—Google Trends can help you too. I realized soul food was a […]

GREENS–GOOD ‘N HEALTHY EATING FOR NATIONAL SOUL FOOD MONTH

13 Jun

June is National Soul food Month, celebrating the heritage and history of the foods and foodways of African Americans and peoples from the African diaspora. The culinary contributions of this group had an indelible impact on the American menu. Folks cook and relish so many of the dishes we know as soul food throughout the year, […]

Start National Soul Food Month with Black-Eyed Peas in Salad

30 Jun

It’s National Soul Food Month and folks must look toward eating and being healthier. There is greater awareness of the many health challenges faced by African Americans—diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and obesity.  We need to increase consumption of many traditional soul foods. The foods are not unhealthy, it’s how we adorn the food […]

National Soul Food Month Celebrates Food Legacy

1 Jun

June is National Soul Food Month. This is the 15th annual celebration of the heritage and foodways of African Americans and peoples from the African diaspora. The yearly recognition grew out of the 2001 Chicago area conference hosted by the Culinary Historians of Chicago. In working on the conference, I realized we needed to celebrate […]

Slow-Cooker Candied Sweets

22 Dec

I’ve written a few posts about my grandmothers and some of the wonderful dishes they would make. From weekday dinners to holiday meals with all the fixins’ they were talented cooks. As far as we were concerned my maternal grandmother Gonga, was the maven of candied sweets. This was one of the dishes she made […]

Dishin’ With the Soul Food Scholar

26 Jun

The foods that form the basis of soul food go back more than 400 years, but the term soul food is a 20th century creation. This food has a rich and highly flavored history—today’s National Soul Food Month post shares a few thoughts from James Beard Award winner Adrian Miller, whose book “Soul Food” dishes […]

The New Power Green

27 Feb

As Black History Month wraps up I want to raise a shot glass of pot likker to greens. Greens are the edible leaves of plants that have provided nourishment for African Americans throughout the ages. Last year I shared that greens were on the hot list, as one of the vegetables getting lots of buzz. […]

Will Soul Food Become Extinct?

29 Jun

As June and National Soul Food Month celebrating the heritage and foodways of African Americans and peoples from the African diaspora wraps up, I’ve cooked, enjoyed and reflected on many of the dishes we’ve come to love as soul food. Greens, cornbread, macaroni and cheese are just a few of the signature foods that I […]

A Dash of Soul by Charla L. Draper

24 Sep

The food game has stepped up—it’s now high profile and interest in ethnic flavors and foods has created space at the American table for items that at one time were considered exotic or relegated to a specific ethnic group. Back in the day, sweet potatoes, greens, okra, yams, black-eyed peas, chile peppers and more were […]