African-American Influence in Southern Cuisine

Food is one of the most important parts of a nationalities culture it tells a story of the people it is associated. The culinary world of the American South is heavily dominated by the culture and traditions of the Africans and other people of color that were enslaved and brought to the United States. The traditions that were brought to the New World with the enslaved Africans, as well as the traditions they developed based on available food resources, created a food culture that still thrives today. From the outside looking in, the American South no longer tells the story of the people that are closely associated it with it, African-Americans. There does not seem to be a high level of recognition related to African-Americans for the continued

The principal source of food for most people inhabiting Africa was and still is the cultivation of plants, grains, root crops, legumes, and vegetables. Food obtained through hunting and fishing is less significant than things from agriculture. ‘You do not need a suitcase to transport traditions’ so when they enslaved Africans were brought to America so were their farming techniques, methods and many crops that were foreign to the Europeans. Slaves being transported from Africa through the middle passage were first, fed foods common to their European captures, but many slaves died during the journey, so the slavers added variety to the on-ship foods. The foods selected to bring to America were brought over for specific reasons. They all remain palatable long after harvesting and were thus ideal for use on the long voyage. Secondly, the foods were changed to items the Africans were more familiar with, hoping it would increase survival rates and give the enslaved a sense of home. African slave traders thus introduced additional, new plants (the ones that could survive) to the New World. Enslaved Africans also brought new foods, by hiding seeds in their ears and in their hair to have something from home with

In fact, between 2012 – 2016, The James Beard Foundation has not awarded an African-American an award for in any of its, Best Regional Chef category. This category, according to the foundation is for Chefs who have set new or consistent standards of excellence in their respective regions. It is surprising that there has not been any African-Americans, particularly in the South and Southeast regions, worthy of an award. As an author and culinary historian, Michael Twitty puts it “In cherry-picking culinary figures to represent the best, brightest, and most ingenious in contemporary gastronomy, American publications like Time, in a rush to capture the zeitgeist, completely overlooked both the past, present, and future roles of chefs of