Black Southern Food Tradition

Jack Dappa Blues Heritage Preservation Radio

The term Soul Food and Southern Style food were not an initial naming convention for the meals eaten in the households I grew up in. We ate what grandma cooked. What granddad bought, for auntie and momma to prepare. As time went on, the meals of my family began popping up in stores around our community, then particular spaces across the nation by the name “Soul Food” or “Country Kitchen.” I remember Country Kitchen specifically, because it was on the route home from church, and on special occasions my family and I would stop there to order meals. The food was good, not as good as my grandma, or mother’s, but non the less we enjoyed. The irony is as I matured in the space of being a folklorist, I wondered why we paid for meals identical to what we ate at home. And when and why did my grandma’s and mother’s meals receive this name. To us it was just dinner. To many people, it’s just dinner, lunch or breakfast.

As I pondered this, I began to remember the great times we had as a family, either around the dinner table, or sprinkled around my grandparents home. My grandparents had five children, and their children had children. So it would be a full house. I began to think about the activities that took place during those times. As a folklorist these are the questions, research and interests we dive into, and in diving, I am introduced to Foodways.

As heard on WKU PUBLIC RADIO & NPR

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