List of soul foods and dishes

This is alist of soul foods and dishes.Soul foodis the ethnic cuisine ofAfrican Americansthat originated in theSouthern United Statesduring the era ofslavery.It uses a variety of ingredients and cooking styles, some of which came fromWest AfricanandCentral African cuisinebrought over byenslaved Africanswhile others originated inEurope. Some are indigenous to the Americas as well, borrowed fromNative American cuisine.The foods from West-Central Africa brought to North America during the slave trade wereguinea pepper,gherkin,sesame seeds,kola nuts,eggplant,watermelon,rice,cantaloupe,millet,okra, black-eyed peas, yams, andlegumessuch askidney beansandlima beans. These crops became a staple inSouthern cuisinein the United States.Soul food dishes were created by enslaved Black Americans using minimal ingredients because slaveholders fed their slaves. HistorianJohn Blassingame'sbook published in 1972,The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South, was researched from a collection ofslave narratives. According to Blassingame's research, some enslaved people received the bare minimum in food and had to supplement their diets by hunting, fishing, and foraging for food.From their limited food sources enslaved African Americans created their meals and new dishes called soul food.
Many of the meals prepared by enslaved people were later published in African-American cookbooks after theAmerican Civil war. The dishes the enslaved and their descendants created influenced American southern cuisine.An article from the Alabama News Center explains: "In recent years, culinary historians and writers have credited Africans with introducing many new cooking techniques (for example, one-pot cooking, deep-fat frying and using smoked meats as seasoning) as well as dishes to the New World. They createdgumbo, an adaptation of a traditional west African stew; stewed tomatoes and okra; corn cakes, shrimp and grits;hoppin’ John,jambalaya,red riceand other rice-based dishes; collards and other greens; chow-chow and other pickled vegetables; boiled peanuts and peanut soup; andchitlinsand cracklings, among other foods."
During slavery, pork was a main source of meat for enslaved Black Americans. Slaveholders only provided their slaves the parts of the pig they did not eat such as innards (chitlins), pigs' feet, pigs' ears, and pigs' tail. To supplement their diets, enslaved people hunted and fished for food.Somemeatsoul foods and dishes include:
Beans,greensand other vegetables are often cooked with ham or pork parts to add flavor. To supplement their diets, enslaved African Americans grew vegetables and fruits in their gardens to make one-pot stews and "gumbos."Since the late 20th-century and into the 21st-century, some African Americans createvegan soul foodmeals.Several Black chefs have opened vegan soul food restaurants to cook healthier foods rooted inAfrican American culture.Researchers at theUniversity of Guelphnoted the importance of leafy greens in African-American cuisine: "Leafy greens, both indigenous to Africa and those used in African-American cuisine, are highly nutritious, rich in calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, potassium, zinc, iron, folic acid and vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B5, B6, and E, and are useful in promoting brain function, immune system health, and hormone production."
Rice was acash cropin theSouth Carolina Lowcountry, and during theslave trade, Europeans selected coastal inhabitants of West Africa who had knowledge ofrice cultivation.Other grains such as millet and sorghum were cultivated in Africa and were used in West-Central African cooking to make stews.
These are more specific regional soul food dishes. This includes dishes like jambalaya, gumbo, red rice and beans and other foods of the Creole subgroup of the Black American ethnic group. It also includes the dishes of the Gullah Geeche sub group of the Black American peoples. SeeLouisiana Creole cuisineandGullah Geeche cuisine.
Chicken and wafflesbecame a common soul food item in Black communities inMarylandand inHarlem, New York. During thebluesandjazzera, musicians and singers ate at soul food restaurants located inside black-owned night clubs and cooks prepared chicken and waffles for their customers.