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Interlude
Soul food, humble beginnings and what many would call lower class equipment and lower class ingredients. This never held the food back though, and soul food today is as popular as any other type of food in the southern United States. With roots in the period where US slavery ran the nation, the people made due with the rations they were given. Those rations now are known as soul food classics: chicken gizzards and liver, fried okra, cornbread and breading items in corn starch. -
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Interlude 2
With the essentials listed, soul food also had certain parameters it had to fill. Due to the early lives of those suffering during slavery being very difficult in any sense of the word, the food had to be dense and calorie packed. With this it also had to be hand-edible and transportable easily from stockhouse, to kitchen, to hand. This lead to classics such as cornbread, pickled pigs feet pickled eggs and the southern originating spicy pickles being created. -
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Interlude 3
With parameters for the food established and the food being made in a slavery-era America the spread of soul food was ready. Escapees from the south brought the recipes to the north such as Boston and even Canada where the food began to be noticed and eaten by white people. Now not just relegated to the south and American heartland the food had a chance to be spread further and evolved upon. Northern examples of soul food include fried okra and collard greens as they were both grown in the north -
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Interlude 4
With the abolition of slavery, soul food gained even more momentum, with white people making it in their kitchens and original slavery-era recipes staying around and being changed from family to family. America was also larger with soul food making it out into the midwest and western United States, mac and cheese became attainable with more dairy farms and became the first common staple in soul food from the post-slavery era. This era also included the first soul food restaurants being opened. -
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Interlude 5
In summary of the history, soul food is a product of it's environment and is an unlikely example of the human spirit. Making the best out of the worst times, the worst way any group has been treated in America created a staple in the nation. Soul food is a story of persistence and inventiveness not found in any other genre of food present in America. A beautiful amalgamation of circumstances and the areas to which it was created soul food has continued to persist until the modern day, -
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Interlude Final
Today, soul food is being evolved upon and even spread to different countries, in a visit to London I took 2 years ago, there was a dish featuring cornbread and burnt ends. This goes to show not just the impact in America but in other places as well and is, (in my opinion) the most impressive piece of evidence for soul food's rise to prominence. Above this last interlude is a timeline going more in depth into the creation, spread and evolution of the food and its persistence like it's creators. -
The Equipment
This photo taken in 2020 in the Montpelier South Yard in Alabama, a former plantation. The pots and pans are well preserved as the slaves here were freed without violence after the war. The oldest pot photographed was dated as being from 1802 and all of the pots represent the small amount of cooking equipment afforded to the most original of soul food creators. The simplicity of the equipment and likewise the food created in it is a nuanced idea now. But when soul food was made it was necessity. -
The Equipment and Beginning Cont.
Even with lackluster equipment and ingredients the people made the best of what they had and early recipes for cornbread and country fried pork were created. The simplest of pots and pans and rationing meant that food had to be heavy, and convenient to eat such as the examples listed above. -
The House Servant's Directory
This book is the first to be published by an black man in the US. This book also contains the first recorded recipes of soul food, it was written in Boston, MA. by Robert Roberts, a slave to gov. Gore in 1828. The recipes in the back include chicken gizzards, cornmeal battered okra and even an early creamed corn recipe. This book not only displays recipes being recorded but also displays the spread of soul food as it was written far removed from the south. -
HSD Cont.
Roberts even reportedly cooked some of the recipes featured in the book for Governor Gore as the governor had taken a liking to it. Soul food was not only spreading in the nation at the time, it was also spreading to different demographics. This spread would continue throughout the slavery period in the US. -
Food Festival Soul Food
This image depicts two women making and serving soul food in a San Antonio, TX food festival. Taken in 1908, this image is the first image on this timeline taken in post-slavery America. This image provides yet another footnote to the expansion of soul food as a piece of American culture. Spreading to Texas and being a featured stand in a food festival is a far cry from the food's origins. Whereas it was once prepared out of sheer necessity, at this point in it's history it had become a staple. -
Soul food SA cont.
These two women are preparing Okra, a vegetable from Africa brought to America on slave ships and a staple in soul food. Often fried, this vegetable is a necessity for authentic soul food. Being in San Antonio and given the time frame this must mean that Okra seeds had found their way to Texas specifically for this purpose, yet another impressive piece of evidence for soul food's growing influence in America. -
K&W 1957
Shot for a newspaper by an unknown black photographer this image shows soul food being served in the classic southern restaurant K&W cafeteria. This picture was shot in 1957 in Alpharetta GA. and depicts a civil rights era K&W shortly after it's opening, and as is evident in the photo it's packed. More significantly so it's packed full of white people, the preference for soul food or in this case K&Ws take on it has become not just a "black" type of food. -
K&W Cont.
Given the time, of course only white people were allowed to be seated in the restaurant and any other race had to be served outside of the restaurant. There is initial excerpt written by a black woman reminiscing on the opening of the local soul food restaurant in which she cites that the food was heavenly. Sadly, she was discriminated against for even visiting the restaurant but this would soon change. -
Junebaby Modern Evolution in an Old Genre
Junebaby located in Seattle both encompasses the spread of soul food across the nation. Along with this Junebaby shows the evolution, with their soul food brunch featuring top-shelf wine pairings, top end ingredients and sophisticated presentations. Pictured here is a mac and cheese featuring French cheeses housemade pasta and the best herbs. Soul food hasn't simply just spread across the nation, it has become even a top-end foodie's dream food with many different adaptations. -
Junebaby cont.
The adaptations don't stop with just higher quality ingredients and ritzy presentation. The differences also lie in vegan and vegetarian versions to make the food more inclusive to those with chosen and unchosen restrictions, this helps to spread the food to even more groups of people.