Food: A Link in African American Culture

Food: A Link in African American Culture

Four different people, four different lifestyles, all with at least one thing in common—their races (or so we have yet to discover). I began my interviews wanting to show the similarities and differences in eating habits and traditions with the African American perspective in mind. Although race is used as the combining factor in this situation, each individual’s lifestyle, cultural behavior, and even eating habits are all very unique. My interviewees consisted of four Americans, as mentioned before all of same race, with similar yet very distinct backgrounds. They range from a black Jew, to a “Jamerican,” to what I would call a “traditional southerner”, right on down to a modern day Muslim. They all agreed to fill me in and reveal to others the details of their personal history and family backgrounds. Geography, family tradition, and religion all play factors in what they eat as it always has dating back to ancestral times. I began with “JJ Alex;” a 20 year old African American male from the east coast. He is a middle class college student. JJ Alex sounds like your typical college student but he is far from typical. What singles him out from many of his other peers is his religion. You might ask, “How would his religion relate to his eating lifestyle unless he’s a Muslim?” “He couldn’t possibly be Jewish—or could he?” A black Jew—better known as a Seventh Day Holiness. His great grandfather was a Rabbi and the basic teachings in his religion are as followed: his faith believes the Sabbath (day of rest) to begin at sunset on Friday lasting until sunset on Saturday; some worshippers wear Yarmulke; his faith also follows the Old Testament of the Bible; and they wear the Star of David.

These beliefs in the Judaic way of life absolutely affect the food that is prepared in his house. JJ Alex mentioned that in Judaism one does not eat of unclean animals, which of course entails the meat of a pig or even fish with no scales. So right away he totally disbanded the myth that all people of African American decent eat pork. He also excludes anything from his diet that contains any pork-derived ingredients. “Not in my house!” he says.

Although he does stick to his Judaic diet, JJ Alex and his family do enjoy other foods as well. His mother does most of the cooking in his home. He says they try to ea...

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...iday Thanksgiving. On regular days, he does eat a lot of “soul food” which includes the collard greens and candied yams.

Throughout all four interviewees I realized many foods that are common in the African American culture. In my home, although I choose not to eat pork, we do eat collard greens and sweet potatoes. Coming from a multicultural background that includes African American, Bajan, and Japanese, I also enjoy many other dishes ranging from Asia to the Caribbean. I also have family from the north as well as the south so I understood all the aspects my interviewees were throwing at me.

Although each subject is from completely different backgrounds, whether they be geographical or religious, they each share likeness in many different aspects of their lives. Showing the similarities as well as the differences in their eating habits can create a cultural map tracing each individuals food choices back to one source. In this case, the source may be the continent of Africa where many of these foods are eaten today. In West Africa, the yam is a very popular vegetable. This just goes to show how food can be the missing link of different cultures throughout the world.