Foods from Africa, which have impacted North American cuisine are numerous, and common in the everyday eating habits of Americans. In the 21st century, Americans take for granted the history of the food they eat, and the origins of the foods that are eaten today. In the early part of the history of the United States, people of European descent brought recipes from home and adapted their recipes to the ingredients which were available. The slave trade was directly responsible for what many Americans think of as American food, and those foods are traceable to Africa. Because slaves incorporated their own foods into the everyday lives of their masters, some of the unique foods from Africa and their history are not well known today. American …show more content…
Africans did not willingly come to the United States, but in the slave ships which brought them, they brought food not indigenous to America, grew it, and assimilated it into everyday foods of the people that owned them. Today most Americans take this food for granted, without knowing its origin. The transatlantic slave trade brought rice, okra, black-eyed peas, and kidney and lima beans to the shores of America very early in its history. Also sorghum, millet, watermelon, yams and sesame; found their way into America and became part of the ingredients found in the early cook books written by Americans in the Deep South. To better understand the foods which arrived from Africa, knowing the slaves and slave traders that brought them is important. “It is believed that the first African slaves were imported to the New World at the beginning of the 17th century and that the first slaves came from Senegambia and the Windward Coast. Senegambia was a loosely defined region of West Africa that comprises the present-day nations of Senegal and The Gambia. Windward Coast is roughly the current country of Ivory …show more content…
This type of cooking brought slave traditions of adaptation of foods to the forefront and exposed many people that were not familiar with these foods knowledge of them. The use of less expensive proteins, greens, one pot meals. During and after slavery, living conditions of the African people in the United States were extremely poor. Because of this, the Africans were able to adapt and use what was available to them, just as they had done during the lean times in Africa. As soul food restaurants became more common in larger cities, so did the foods among not only the black communities, but all people. “Though soul food originated in the South, soul food restaurants — from fried chicken and fish "shacks" to upscale dining establishments-are in every African-American community in the nation, especially in cities with large black populations, such as Chicago, New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Washington,
A major issue that is occurring in America is a phenomena known as “food deserts”, most are located in urban areas and it's difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food. Whereas in the past, food deserts were thought to be solved with just placing a grocery store in the area, but with times it has become an issue that people are not picking the best nutritional option. This issue is not only making grocery store in food deserts are practically useless and not really eliminating the issue of food deserts because even when they are given a better nutritional option, and people are not taking it. In my perspective, it takes more than a grocery store to eliminate ‘food deserts’. It's more about demonstrating the good of picking the nutritional option and how it can help them and their families. For example, “Those who live in these areas are often subject to poor diets as a result and are at a greater risk of becoming obese or developing chronic diseases.”(Corapi, 2014).
Cost effective items were pivotal to their survival. As for eating such foods for many of years, those dishes that were made became critiqued throughout time to much tastier meals. Such meals were passed down from generation to generation, creating a unique history behind it. Also, during that time “Soul Food” was distinguishing its own meaning and identity, “There is no doubt that the slave trade left a profound and everlasting mark on the souls of enslaved Africans, but Opie makes a startlingly simple argument, offering a definition of soul that describes not slaves but the positive attributes of all of humankind.”(Evans 223) Laretta Henderson claims that, “in its culinary incarnation, "soul food" was associated with a shared history of oppression and inculcated, by some, with cultural pride. Soul food was eaten by the bondsmen. It was also the food former slaves incorporated into their diet after emancipation. Therefore, during the 1960s, middle-class blacks used their reported consumption of soul food to distance themselves from the values of the white middle class, to define themselves ethnically, and to align themselves with lower-class blacks. Irrespective of political affiliation or social class, the definition of “blackness” or “soul” became part of everyday discourse in the black
Many African-Americans consume what is known as “soul food”, for which, it is very popular within the black community. Soul food is an African-American cuisine that can be traced back as far as African, however, the term itself was not coined until the mid-1960s. It also comprise an important element of the cuisine of the general American south. Soul food was adopted and modify during the African slave trade and it was during this time food African cuisine and southern European cuisine became one big melting pot.
African slaves were brought to the America’s by the millions in the 17th and 18th century. The Spanish and British established lucrative slave trades within Africa and populated their new territories with captured and then enslaved Africans. The British brought the slaves to their new colonies in North America to work on the large plantations and the Spanish and Portuguese brought the slaves to South America. Slavery within North and South America had many commonalities yet at the same time differences between the two institutions.
Majority of the slaves originated from West and Central Africa, mostly Nigeria, Angola, Ghana and the coast of Sierra Leone. Due to this movement, most of the characteristics of African Culture such as their beliefs, music, and traditions, which were moved to America resulted in cultural incorporation. Auctioning of the Africans marked the start of the middle passage. The europeans carried a cargo that contained iron, gunpowder, fabric, and guns, which were exchanged for africans when they landed. After loading their cargo, the Americans embarked on their journey and traded the slaves for other
For various southern African Americans, their journey westward usually began as slaves. In 1825, when the Mexican government enticed Americans westward through land grants, various slave owners moved in the hopes of becoming wealthy. These American immigrants into Mexico brought with them their wives, children, and property, including slaves. In the vast North American west, African Americans found new opportunities to put their skills to work. Many of these skills, which included herding cattle in Ghana and Gambia, had been passed down generation to generation through oral histories. Plantation owners, now ranchers in the West, employed their slaves’ skills in managing their plan...
All ethnic groups have their own language, food, and way of living. Some can even call their food, “soul food.” Soul food can be described as “food made with feeling and care,” but in America, soul food simply refers to African-American cuisine (A History of Soul Food). In Imamu Amiri Baraka’s essay, “Soul Food” he describes how shocked he was to read an article that stated how “African-Americans have no language and no characteristic food.” So he argued against that supposed fact. I too was shocked and am agreeing with Baraka’s argument. African-Americans have had soul food for hundreds of years, if anything that is all they have ever had. Since slaves had no control or choice in life, cooking became a way to express feelings, share love and nurture family and sorrow (Helton). Soul food is more that just food; it is history, tradition, and family.
Michael Pollan makes arguments concerning the eating habits of the average American. Pollan suggests, in spite of our cultural norms, we should simply “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.”
“Slavery in America began when the first African slaves were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, to aid in the production of such crops as tobacco” ( HISTORY). Replaced by the poorer sector of Europeans, African Americans were used as cheap labor and household servants. John Green, from You tube’s “Crash Course” states that Three-fourths of the cotton produce in the world came from the American South. By 1860, there were 4 million
Michael Twitty is a food writer and culinary historian best known for preparing, preserving and promoting African American food ways and its origins in Africa. He emphasizes how African food culture has made a great impact on the American South. His cooking helped him to learn about his identity and culture. He describes “identity cooking” a way to better understand him and his culture as a Jewish-African American. A project he developed called “The Cooking Gene” is what he explains as a means of “exploring my family history through food, from Africa to America, from slavery to freedom.” Race, food and ethnicity all have a more complex and cultural meaning especially when fused together. Different
Brief History From the 1500s to the 1700s, African blacks, mainly from the area of West Africa (today's Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Dahomey, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon) were shipped as slaves to North America, Brazil, and the West Indies. For them, local and tribal differences, and even varying cultural backgrounds, soon melded into one common concern: the suffering they all endured. Music, songs, and dances as well as traditional food, helped not only to uplift them but also quite unintentionally added immeasurably to the culture around them. In the approximately 300 years that blacks have made their homes in North America, the West Indies, and Brazil, their highly honed art of the cuisine so treasured and carefully transmitted to their daughters has become part of the great culinary classics of these lands. But seldom are the African blacks given that recognition.
The first similarity between the regions of America and Africa was the spread of new crops. In America, crops such as bananas and sugarcane had found their way to the region and became heavily cultivated. Evenmore so, livestock had spread like wildfire through the americas, particularly domesticated animals such as cows, sheep, and pigs, and this was due to the fact that the Americas were largely free of natural predators. Similarly, Africa had received crops such as corn and maize had reached the
Nutritionism and Today’s Diet Nutritionism is the ideology that the nutritional value of a food is the sum of all its individual nutrients, vitamins, and other components. In the book, “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan, he critiques scientists and government recommendations about their nutritional advice. Pollan presents a strong case pointing out the many flaws and problems that have risen over the years of following scientific studies and government related warnings on the proper amount of nutrients needed for a healthy diet. Pollan’s main point is introducing science into our food system has had more of a negative impact than a positive one, we should go back to eating more of a traditional diet. I believe food science has given us
America is a capitalist society. It should come to a surprise when we live like this daily. We work for profit. We’ll buy either for pleasure or to sell later for profit. It should come to no surprise that our food is made the same way because we are what we eat. We are capitalist that eat a capitalist meal. So we must question our politics. Is our government system to blame for accepting and encouraging monopolies?
African foods are bountiful and diverse. They are rich in nutritional fiber and often unrefined and they offer a healthy choice when consumed in the right blend. Most African recipes are based around ingredients and spices that are natural and can be easily farmed or produced at a subsistence level. Most African foods do not contain refined sugars and processed additives and are mainly starch based, with generous amounts of fresh vegetables and proteins found in fish or beef (AIG, 2011).