Black American Soul Food vs. African Food

[Guest LKC1218]

Hey people! I have decided to bring up another topic about Black culture and people. The topic I want to discuss is African American Soul Food vs. African Food. Soul food has been apart of American fabric for a very long time. Although, the remnants of soul food have come from our history here in the country. Fried chicken came from Europe, Corn Bread came from the Native Americans and chitterlings came from the scraps that the African slaves made a meal out of. On the other hand, African food is a mix of beans, plantains, chicken, goat, corn and yucca root amongst other things. Some may say that there is nothing wrong with Soul food since that is apart of who we are but due to the way that it's cook, it has made many of us sick (diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure). African food on the other hand tends to have more variety and nutritional value. So, the question is, should we continue to eat Soul food since it is our own or should we eat our ancestral food that tends to be more healthy for us? I've made a YouTube video about this topic as well and I would like to know what you all think of it.

 

My video: 

 

[Kareem]

I've thought of "soul food" as slave food for a long time. The only reason I EVER at chitlins ("chitterlings") was because I saw my dad, mom, grandma, and great grandma all eating that sh*t (literally). I also learned to like hot sauce at a very young age as a result to cover the taste of that mess.

 

There is nothing soul-ful about soul food. Chitlins were basically what white people threw on the ground after stripping the hog of the ham, bacon, chops, etc. and said "here niggers, eat this." We were desperate for any kind of sustenance. So we made the best of it and enjoyed it. Greens wouldn't be that bad without all the lard and ham hocks. But other than that, soul food will kill you faster than white cops. Interestingly I was hanging out with some Afrikan brothers from Kenya while in college. They had some unique cuisine themselves which I thought was horrific. The 80s rappers always talked about eating "herbs and fruits."

 

Soul food to me is more about our perseverance. We always made/make the best out of the worst conditions because that's all we've ever had. So there's definitely a place in history for soul food. There's no place for it in our 2019 diets though. No people's best food is healthy though. But I wish we had innately awesome dishes. Mexicans have enchiladas, burritos and tacos. Italians have spaghetti, lasagna, and braciole. Chinese have shrimp-fried rice and egg rolls. We have chitlins. But what's new with us. Black American folks are at the bottom of everything.

[Pioneer1]

Welcome to the site sis.

You are absolutely correct, what we call "soul food" is basically slave food and much of it and especially the way it's cooked is not healthy for our people. But it is very tastey compared to most Caucasian foods like hamburgers and hotdogs, especially when it's prepared the traditional way.

The worse thing about REAL Soulfood is the high fat/grease content.
Soulfood is loaded with fat and salt and a lot of calories because it was designed by and for people who were working all day from sun up to sun down so they needed those calories. Today most of our people aren't doing that type of grueling work for those long hours and don't need nearly that high of calorie content to sustain them.
But it's become a habit.

With that all said, as bad as it may be....until we can establish something better... I still promote traditional Soulfood and think we should have Soulfood restaurants all over this nation because it IS part of our culture and everyone needs something of their own for thier psychological esteem.


I like how you realize that we as AfroAmericans don't have an actual culture and that this is a major reason why our people continue to have conflicts with other ethnic groups including even other Africans who come into contact with us. I've come to the same conclusions. Many of these other ethnic groups don't understand why our people act the way we act and are in the shape we're in and unless this is EXPLAINED to them in a way they can understand it, these conflicts will continue.

But have you considered another reason why AfroAmericans often clash with other groups?

I believe that another problem we as AfroAmericans often class with other ethnic groups is because we are one of the few ethnic groups who are openly opposed to Caucasian domination (white supremacy)!
As strange as it may seem, it appears that most people around the world don't see Caucasians or their civilization as an enemy or even a problem but to the contrary, many see them as saviors and angels.
Abroad as well as in America they see Caucasians as their reason for having a good job, driving a car, eating pizza and other foods they enjoy and when they hear AfroAmericans complain about living with or under "White Supremacy" they often get confused and angry and see our people as "ungrateful" for our opportunities.