Dr. Schmidt
English Composition I
September 17, 2014
Soul Food: The Real Way!
As bad as it may sound, sometimes African Americans get offended at the term “Soul Food.” Not necessarily over the social stigma it brings that is not a problem. People get offended because of how loosely the term is used in general society. Soul Food was not intended to cause major health problems or be easily accessible in a package at the neighborhood grocery store. Reclaiming real soul food needs to happen in America. How else will people know it is not something you can eat every night? You have to take your time with it, and start preparing it days in advance. Soul Food’s origin needs to be discussed and people must understand that real Soul Food is not bad for you. The real Soul Food needs to be brought back to America’s attention.
In order for an individual to truly understand Soul Food one must first understand Soul Food’s origin. As Terry points out, “The term “Soul Food” first emerged during the black liberation movement as African Americans named and reclaimed their diverse traditional foods” (83). Soul Food is what African Americans great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents consumed, in the Deep South, where older generations had small gardens and orchards. Families had farms with livestock ready to be slaughtered and cleaned for dinner that night. Freshly stewed vegetables lightly seasoned for the optimum taste. That’s the origin of Soul Food!
There are often times misconceptions between Soul Food and Southern Food. That needs a little attention, so real Soul Food can be more appreciated. A person can go their entire life on a Southern Food diet...consuming store bought fried chicken, canned vegetables, and ice cream. Any variation of Southern Food would work here because of one main point that Terry makes, “To paraphrase food historian Jessica B. Harris, “Soul Food” was simply what Southern black folks ate for dinner” (83). It is not just black folks eating...