Lesson 5:
Soul Food

Just like soul music, soul food comes from the American South. It is a cuisine originating in African American culture. Examples of soul food in the USA include fried chicken, black-eyed peas, jambalaya, bread pudding and sweet-potato pie.

The ingredients available to the families of African slaves were simple and local. The meat was typically the least desirable cuts, as African American families could not usually afford expensive ingredients. If they had chickens and pigs, they would use their meat. They also used fresh vegetables from their kitchen gardens, such as tomatoes and bell peppers.
Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?

When we eat soul food, it brings back warm memories of family dinners from the past; you eat for your soul to survive. People say that soul food is not just for the stomach: it goes to the heart, too. Today soul food is comfort food for new generations of African Americans.