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The term Soul Food became popular in the 1960s,
when the word soul became used in connection with most things
African American. The origins of soul food, however, are much older
and can be traced back to Africa. Many culinary historians believe
that in the beginning of the 14th century, around the time of early
African exploration, European explorers brought their own food
supplies and introduced them into the African diet. Foods such as
turnips from Morocco and cabbage from Spain would play an important
part in the history of African American cuisine.
When slave trading began in the early 1400s, the diet of newly enslaved Africans changed on the long journeys from their
homeland. It was during this time that some of the indigenous crops of Africa began showing up in the slaves' new home in the
Americas. Tall tales of seeds from watermelons, okra and sesame being transported in the slave's ears, hair or clothing are
perhaps based on fact[citation needed]. Some traditional African foods became commercially raised crops in America.
As slaves, African Americans would "make do" with the ingredients at hand. The fresh vegetables found in Africa were replaced by
the throwaway foods from the plantation house. Their vegetables were the tops of turnips and beets and dandelions. Soon they
were cooking with new types of greens: collards, kale, cress, mustard, and pokeweed. African American slaves also developed
recipes which used discarded meat from the plantation, such as pig’s feet, beef tongue or tail, ham hocks, chitterlings (pig small
intestines), pig ears, hog jowls, tripe and skin. Cooks added onions, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf to enhance the flavors. Many
African Americans depended on catching their own meat, and wild game such as raccoon, opossum, turtle, and rabbit was, until
the 1950s, very popular fare on the African American table.
The slave diet began to evolve when slaves entered the plantation houses as cooks. Suddenly, southern cooking took on new
meaning. Fried chicken began to appear on the tables (however, serving fried chicken was a tradition that stemmed from West
Africa as a way to honor guests); sweet potatoes sat next to boiled white potatoes. Regional foods such as apples, peaches,
berries, nuts, and grains soon became puddings and pies; thus, soul cooking began to influence Southern food.
There was no waste in the traditional African American kitchen. Leftover fish became croquettes (by adding an egg, cornmeal or
flour, seasonings which were breaded and deep-fried). Stale bread became bread pudding, and each part of the pig had its own
special dish. Even the liquid from cooked greens, called potlikker, was consumed as a type of gravy, or drink.
After long hours of labor, the evening meal was a time for families to get together, and the tradition of communal meals was the
perfect environment for conversation and the reciting of oral history and storytelling. Another tradition was the potluck dinner, with
each family member bringing a different dish to the dinner. When it was their families' turn for a visit by the preacher, it was also
common practice for black women to hold up Sunday lunches or dinners until he arrived. If the minister frequently graced one's
family table, then that conferred upon the family a degree of prestige in the eyes of the congregation. The tradition of extended
family, friends and neighbors gathering at one woman's household at Christmas and Thanksgiving because of her status as a
cook also began with the preacher's approval.
After slavery in the United States came to an end, many poor African Americans could afford only the least expensive cuts of meat
and offal. Subsistence farming yielded fresh vegetables, and fishing and hunting provided fish and wild game, such as possum,
rabbit, squirrel, and sometimes waterfowl.
While soul food originated in the South, soul food restaurants—from fried chicken and fish "shacks" to upscale dining
establishments—exist in virtually every African American community in the USA, especially in cities with large African American
populations, such as Charleston, Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Florida, Houston, Detroit, New York,
Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, New Orleans, Memphis,Los Angeles, Miami, Birmingham, Sacramento, St. Louis
and Washington, D.C.
when the word soul became used in connection with most things
African American. The origins of soul food, however, are much older
and can be traced back to Africa. Many culinary historians believe
that in the beginning of the 14th century, around the time of early
African exploration, European explorers brought their own food
supplies and introduced them into the African diet. Foods such as
turnips from Morocco and cabbage from Spain would play an important
part in the history of African American cuisine.
When slave trading began in the early 1400s, the diet of newly enslaved Africans changed on the long journeys from their
homeland. It was during this time that some of the indigenous crops of Africa began showing up in the slaves' new home in the
Americas. Tall tales of seeds from watermelons, okra and sesame being transported in the slave's ears, hair or clothing are
perhaps based on fact[citation needed]. Some traditional African foods became commercially raised crops in America.
As slaves, African Americans would "make do" with the ingredients at hand. The fresh vegetables found in Africa were replaced by
the throwaway foods from the plantation house. Their vegetables were the tops of turnips and beets and dandelions. Soon they
were cooking with new types of greens: collards, kale, cress, mustard, and pokeweed. African American slaves also developed
recipes which used discarded meat from the plantation, such as pig’s feet, beef tongue or tail, ham hocks, chitterlings (pig small
intestines), pig ears, hog jowls, tripe and skin. Cooks added onions, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf to enhance the flavors. Many
African Americans depended on catching their own meat, and wild game such as raccoon, opossum, turtle, and rabbit was, until
the 1950s, very popular fare on the African American table.
The slave diet began to evolve when slaves entered the plantation houses as cooks. Suddenly, southern cooking took on new
meaning. Fried chicken began to appear on the tables (however, serving fried chicken was a tradition that stemmed from West
Africa as a way to honor guests); sweet potatoes sat next to boiled white potatoes. Regional foods such as apples, peaches,
berries, nuts, and grains soon became puddings and pies; thus, soul cooking began to influence Southern food.
There was no waste in the traditional African American kitchen. Leftover fish became croquettes (by adding an egg, cornmeal or
flour, seasonings which were breaded and deep-fried). Stale bread became bread pudding, and each part of the pig had its own
special dish. Even the liquid from cooked greens, called potlikker, was consumed as a type of gravy, or drink.
After long hours of labor, the evening meal was a time for families to get together, and the tradition of communal meals was the
perfect environment for conversation and the reciting of oral history and storytelling. Another tradition was the potluck dinner, with
each family member bringing a different dish to the dinner. When it was their families' turn for a visit by the preacher, it was also
common practice for black women to hold up Sunday lunches or dinners until he arrived. If the minister frequently graced one's
family table, then that conferred upon the family a degree of prestige in the eyes of the congregation. The tradition of extended
family, friends and neighbors gathering at one woman's household at Christmas and Thanksgiving because of her status as a
cook also began with the preacher's approval.
After slavery in the United States came to an end, many poor African Americans could afford only the least expensive cuts of meat
and offal. Subsistence farming yielded fresh vegetables, and fishing and hunting provided fish and wild game, such as possum,
rabbit, squirrel, and sometimes waterfowl.
While soul food originated in the South, soul food restaurants—from fried chicken and fish "shacks" to upscale dining
establishments—exist in virtually every African American community in the USA, especially in cities with large African American
populations, such as Charleston, Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Florida, Houston, Detroit, New York,
Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, New Orleans, Memphis,Los Angeles, Miami, Birmingham, Sacramento, St. Louis
and Washington, D.C.
A southern African-American family on a fishing and
hunting outing in the late 1800s. Note the catfish
and waterfowl suspended from the side of the boat
hunting outing in the late 1800s. Note the catfish
and waterfowl suspended from the side of the boat
| Information provided by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_food http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Creole_cuisine If you find any information written above to be inaccurate, please let us know so we can have the most accurate information available. "We value your opinion" webmaster@ynotgetitngo.com |
Louisiana Creole cuisine is a style of cooking originating in Louisiana (centered on the Greater
New Orleans area) that blends French, Spanish, French Caribbean, African, and American
influences. It also bears hallmarks of Italian cuisine. It is vaguely similar to Cajun cuisine in
ingredients (such as the holy trinity), but the important distinction is that Cajun cuisine arose from
the more rustic, provincial French cooking adapted by the Acadians to Louisiana ingredients,
whereas the cooking of the Louisiana Creoles tended more toward classical European styles
adapted to local foodstuffs. Broadly speaking, the French influence in Cajun cuisine is descended
from various French Provincial cuisines of the peasantry, while Creole cuisine evolved in the homes
of well-to-do aristocrats, or those who imitated their lifestyle. Although the Creole cuisine is closely
identified with New Orleans culture today, much of it evolved in the country plantation estates so
beloved of the pre-Civil War Creoles.[1]. (Despite its aristocratic French roots, Creole cuisine does not include Gard-Manger or other
extremely lavish styles of the Classical Paris cuisine.)
The Spanish influences on Creole cuisine were in the heat of the peppers, the supreme importance of rice and the introduction of
beans. The Spanish also used tomatoes extensively, which had not been a frequent ingredient in the earlier French era. Pasta and
tomato sauces arrived during the period when New Orleans was a popular destination for Italian immigrants (roughly, 1815 to 1925).
Many Italians became grocers, bakers, cheese makers and orchard farmers, and so influenced the Creole cuisine in New Orleans and
its suburbs. The African influence, which was extensive, came about because nearly all servants were African-American, as were many
of the cooks in restaurants and cafes.
The first French and Spanish Creole cookbooks date back to the era before the Louisiana Purchase. The first Creole cookbook in
English was La Cuisine Creole: A Collection of Culinary Recipes, From Leading Chefs and Noted Creole Housewives, Who Have Made
New Orleans Famous For Its Cuisine, written by Lafcadio Hearn and published in 1885. The full text and page images can be found at
Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project.
Starting in the 1980s, Cajun influence became important, spurred by the popular restaurant of Chef Paul Prudhomme. A national
interest in Cajun cooking developed, and many tourists went to New Orleans expecting to find Cajun food there (being unaware that the
city was culturally and geographically separate from Acadiana), so entrepreneurs opened or rebranded restaurants to meet this
demand. The "New New Orleans Cooking" of celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse includes both Cajun and Creole dishes. In his writings and
TV shows, Lagasse both draws the distinction between Cajun and Creole and explains where they overlap.[2]
With the rise of Modern American Cooking in the 1980s, a New Creole (or Nouvelle Creole) strain began to emerge. This movement is
characterized in part by a renewed emphasis on fresh ingredients and lighter preparations, and in part by an outreach to other culinary
traditions, including Cajun, Southern, Southwestern, and to a lesser degree Southeast Asian. While the Cajun food craze eventually
passed, Modern Creole has remained as a predominant force in most major New Orleans restaurants.
New Orleans area) that blends French, Spanish, French Caribbean, African, and American
influences. It also bears hallmarks of Italian cuisine. It is vaguely similar to Cajun cuisine in
ingredients (such as the holy trinity), but the important distinction is that Cajun cuisine arose from
the more rustic, provincial French cooking adapted by the Acadians to Louisiana ingredients,
whereas the cooking of the Louisiana Creoles tended more toward classical European styles
adapted to local foodstuffs. Broadly speaking, the French influence in Cajun cuisine is descended
from various French Provincial cuisines of the peasantry, while Creole cuisine evolved in the homes
of well-to-do aristocrats, or those who imitated their lifestyle. Although the Creole cuisine is closely
identified with New Orleans culture today, much of it evolved in the country plantation estates so
beloved of the pre-Civil War Creoles.[1]. (Despite its aristocratic French roots, Creole cuisine does not include Gard-Manger or other
extremely lavish styles of the Classical Paris cuisine.)
The Spanish influences on Creole cuisine were in the heat of the peppers, the supreme importance of rice and the introduction of
beans. The Spanish also used tomatoes extensively, which had not been a frequent ingredient in the earlier French era. Pasta and
tomato sauces arrived during the period when New Orleans was a popular destination for Italian immigrants (roughly, 1815 to 1925).
Many Italians became grocers, bakers, cheese makers and orchard farmers, and so influenced the Creole cuisine in New Orleans and
its suburbs. The African influence, which was extensive, came about because nearly all servants were African-American, as were many
of the cooks in restaurants and cafes.
The first French and Spanish Creole cookbooks date back to the era before the Louisiana Purchase. The first Creole cookbook in
English was La Cuisine Creole: A Collection of Culinary Recipes, From Leading Chefs and Noted Creole Housewives, Who Have Made
New Orleans Famous For Its Cuisine, written by Lafcadio Hearn and published in 1885. The full text and page images can be found at
Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project.
Starting in the 1980s, Cajun influence became important, spurred by the popular restaurant of Chef Paul Prudhomme. A national
interest in Cajun cooking developed, and many tourists went to New Orleans expecting to find Cajun food there (being unaware that the
city was culturally and geographically separate from Acadiana), so entrepreneurs opened or rebranded restaurants to meet this
demand. The "New New Orleans Cooking" of celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse includes both Cajun and Creole dishes. In his writings and
TV shows, Lagasse both draws the distinction between Cajun and Creole and explains where they overlap.[2]
With the rise of Modern American Cooking in the 1980s, a New Creole (or Nouvelle Creole) strain began to emerge. This movement is
characterized in part by a renewed emphasis on fresh ingredients and lighter preparations, and in part by an outreach to other culinary
traditions, including Cajun, Southern, Southwestern, and to a lesser degree Southeast Asian. While the Cajun food craze eventually
passed, Modern Creole has remained as a predominant force in most major New Orleans restaurants.
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