African American Foodways
Subtitle: Exploration of History and Culture (The Food Series)
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: May 30, 2007
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 200
ISBN-13: 9780252031854
Subjects: Black studies; National & regional cuisine; Social & cultural anthropology; Social Science; Archaeology / Anthropology; Sociology; Africa; USA; Anthropology - Cultural; Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General; Regional & Ethnic - Soul Food; Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural; African American cookery
Description: Moving beyond catfish and collard greens to the soul of African American cooking. Ranging over the progression from seventeenth-century West African fare to contemporary fusion dishes using "soul food" ingredients, this book provides an introduction to many aspects of African American foodways. Examining the combination of African, Caribbean, and South American traditions, the volume's contributors offer insights from history, literary studies, sociology, anthropology, and African American studies to demonstrate how food's material and symbolic values have contributed to African Americans' identity for centuries. Individual chapters examine how African foodways survived the passage into slavery, cultural meanings associated with African American foodways, and the contents of African American cookbooks, both early and recent.