What the slaves ate
Subtitle: recollections of African American foods and foodways from the slave narratives
By: Herbert C. Covey and Dwight Eisnach.
Contributors: Eisnach, Dwight.
Publisher: Greenwood Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Westport, Conn
Language: eng
Number of pages: 311
ISBN-13: 9780313374975
Subjects: Slaves -- Diet -- United States -- History; African Americans -- Food -- History; African American cookery -- History; Food -- Social aspects -- United States -- History; Cookery, American -- Southern style -- History; Slave narratives -- United States
Description: Carefully documenting African American slave foods, this book reveals that slaves actively developed their own foodways-their customs involving family and food. The authors connect African foods and food preparation to the development during slavery of Southern cuisines having African influences, including Cajun, Creole, and what later became known as "soul" food, drawing on the recollections of ex-slaves recorded by Works Progress Administration interviewers. Valuable for its fascinating look into the very core of slave life, this book makes a unique contribution to our knowledge of slave culture and of the complex power relations encoded in both owners' manipulation of food as a method of slave control and slaves' efforts to evade and undermine that control.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The WPA narratives and slave diets; title: Slave nutrition; title: African roots and food traditions; title: Slave cooking and meals; title: Vegetables; title: Meat; title: Wild game and fish; title: Dairy; title: Grains, cereals, and baked goods; title: Fruits, nuts, and coffee; title: Celebrations, special occasions, and the war; title: Closing observations.