Soul food is a variety of cuisine that originated in Africa-American culture. The term “soul food” is thought to have originated in the 1960s.
A bit of context:
The soul food style of cooking is common to the Southern regions of the United States and originated during American slavery.
African- American slaves were often given leftovers by their white captors and offcuts of meat. They then used these leftovers to come up with creative dishes for themselves and their families. Some meals also introduced staples from Africa such as sorghum to America – prepared by the slaves in new ways while incorporating various new ingredients too.
Common dish ingredients include biscuits, black-eyed peas, butter beans, catfish, chicken, chicken livers, collard greens, cornbread, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, neck bones, ribs and sweet potatoes.
Over the years soul food recipes have been passed down from generation to generation.
Although quite popular, soul food often contains high trans-fat content – something which has led to high rates of obesity, hypertension, cardiac problems and diabetes in the African-American community. While many people still enjoy soul food these days, preparation methods are often healthier.
Some popular soul food recipes:
Fried Chicken
- Use 8 pieces of chicken, cut up and ready to cook
- Half a cup of vegetable oil
- Half a cup of flour
- 2 teaspoons of butter or margarine
- 2 tablespoons of garlic
- 2 teaspoons of seasoning salt
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted meat tenderiser
- 1 cayenne pepper
- 2 tablespoons of onion powder
Home-made chicken and dumplings
- Whole chicken
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon butter
- Water
- 2 cups of flour
- Half a teaspoon of salt
- 5 tablespoons of butter
- 1 large egg
- Half a cup of full cream milk
Macaroni and Cheese
- 1 packet elbow macaroni cooked
- 16 saltine crackers, finely crushed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon seasoned pepper
- 1 block cheddar cheese chopped
- 6 large eggs lightly beaten
- 4 cups milk