Cooking Up Culture : Black American Cuisine

According to the U.S. Census, there are almost 40 million black Americans living in the United States. While this information is interesting, such numbers do little to educate writers about the diverse communities of people who are identified as black by the Census. I think one of the best ways to begin an exploration of a culture, is to start with food. Black American culture is diverse. Cultural traditions vary by region, and by family. That is why food is a great way to examine heritage; food reflects the influences on a region and a culture. Indeed, it must be stated that black American culture is not some monolithic structure grafted onto the backbone of every infant born with 1/8 drop of African blood. It is, for non-blacks, a perception, an assumption of truths, which is often based on a lack of knowledge. In black America, black culture means different things to different people. For some, it is a connection based on what has been done to us as a people. For others, it is a deep well, a place to go for refreshment, for renewal, for inspiration. In truth, it is all of these things and none of these things. The reality it that what we call “black culture” is a conglomerate of many peoples, many cultures, and many societies. Blackness is the very essence of global. Blackness comes in every shade, every language, every nation. Therefore, there is no standard system of black behavior–I found this out when I moved to Minnesota from the south. The social understanding of “blackness” that I brought with me was repeatedly challenged. Black culture was vastly different from what I had known in the south. I found myself guilty of believing that skin color meant commonality. It doesn’t. That is why it is important for writers crafting black characters to give that character more than “blackness.” (You would not believe the number of authors who seem to think black heritage is a character trait). If you wish to write for a black audience, flesh your characters out as fully as possible, understanding that, to people who are labeled as black by society, the word carries a multitude of different meanings and patterns of behavior. It is also important to understand that much of the “blackness” that you see on television is not authentic. It is what a primarily white industry envisions as “black.”

So, we will briefly examine the cuisines of black America; and then I will share one of the recipes from my black heritage.

Black American Cuisines

Black American Cuisines include the following: Caribbean Cuisine, Southern Cuisine, Low Country Cuisine, Creole Cuisine, various traditional Black African Cuisines, and good old American Soul Food.

Caribbean Cuisine is firmly rooted in traditional black African cookery. This style of cuisine was brought to the Americas and used in Caribbean style cooking prior to mass settlement. Modern Caribbean cuisine has mostly been influenced by three groups: Africans, Amerindians, and Asians. However, Caribbean cuisine also reflects the influence of the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British. Signature Caribbean dishes include barbecue (an African invention), callaloo soup, coo-coo, and jerk chicken.

Southern Cuisine was highly influenced by Africans brought to the Americas as slaves. Displaced from their homeland, African cooks were forced to be creative and to use whatever foods were available to them. Signature dishes include grits, buttermilk biscuits, banana bread, pecan pie, and black-eyed peas.

The tidal plain of the Atlantic Ocean in South Carolina is called the Low Country by the area’s residents. Low Country Cuisine (also known as Gullah or Geechee cuisine) is characterized by access to abundant seafood. Low Country cuisine blends seafood and rice to make a wide variety of meals. Signature Low Country dishes include fried catfish, fried fish fingers, crab-cakes, hoppin-john, and she-crab stew.

Creole Cuisine is often confused with Cajun Cuisine. However, Cajun Cuisine receives its influences from French Canadians of Acadian heritage who settled in the Bayou region of Louisiana. Cajun cuisine takes many of its influences from African cookery, but it is not the same as Creole Cuisine. Creoles of color is a term used to describe people of mixed French, Spanish, and African ancestry in Louisiana. In any event, Creole cuisine is characterized by the addition of tomatoes and seafood. Signature dishes include crawfish etouffe, corn and crab bisque, blackened fish, and jambalaya.

Growing up in the South, I enjoyed many soul food dishes. Soul food is the term used to describe traditional and modern versions of black American cooking. Many of these dishes originated during slavery. It was customary for slaves to be given the left-over, undesirable cuts of meat from slave owners. To survive, blacks transformed these poor foods, turning them into nutrient-rich meals, which they supplemented with vegetables from their own small plot gardens. Employing creativity, and techniques brought with them from Africa (many Africans were farmers), black Americans were able to create a new cuisine. As such, black American cuisine can be examined as an actual aspect of black American culture (as can various styles of music). Many of the dishes invented by black Americans from that time period are viewed as highly desirable now; others, not so much. Signature soul food dishes include cornbread, black-eyed peas, country fried steak, greens and ham hocks, red beans, and chitterlings (you know, pig intestines).

Roots of Black American Cooking

Africa is the world’s second-largest continent. It accounts for 12% of the earth’s population. It is home to 50 countries. Geographically, Africa is divided by the Sahara Desert. Africans living above the Sahara are generally referred to as North Africans. Africans below the Sahara Desert are generally called sub-Saharan Africans. This geographical divide is also, in many ways, a cultural divide. Because sub-Saharan Africa is primarily black Africa, we will focus on the food traditions of this portion of Africa in looking at Traditional African Cuisine. Black African cuisine can also be divided regionally into East, West, and South African style cookery. Many of the dishes found in the African diet can also be seen in the black American diet. Signature African dishes include jollof rice, chicken yassa, and benne cakes.

I don’t eat as many heritage foods now as I did when growing up. Eating habits have changed dramatically over the past several years. Although I am not a vegan, I have always been interested in healthy eating. While there are many Black American dishes that could be healthy with a few changes to the traditional recipe, to me, greens just do not taste good without ham hocks. One of my favorite recipes from my heritage is sweet cornbread. My mother doesn’t like sweet cornbread. She only makes it sweet when she knows I will be eating it, so I’m not sure how authentic it is to the black experience, but sweet is the way I prefer my cornbread. It should be noted that growing up in Texas, my family had many cultural influences. We were exposed to Mexican American and German American cuisines. These are the cultural influences that shaped my food tastes, and my outlook. Mexican cuisine was served in our home more often than soul food because it was cheaper, and we were not wealthy. Anyway, here is my recipe. Let me know if you try it and like it.

Sweet Cornbread

Prep Time: 10 minutes               Cook Time: 20 Minutes                  Servings: 5 – 6

Ingredients:

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup sugar, you can substitute honey

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

2 tbsp melted butter or canola oil

2 cups buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.

2. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.

3. Sift cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt together.

4. In medium bowl, beat eggs. Add oil and milk. Mix until blended.

5. Stir cornmeal and flour mixture into the wet mixture.

6. Pour batter into prepared pan.

7. Bake 20 minutes, or until browned on top.

8. Serve with butter and honey. Or, in true southern style, slather with butter, pour some buttermilk over it, and eat with a fork.

Cook’s Note: I have a convection oven which cooks foods much faster. Be sure to allow the batter to continue cooking if it does not seem done. The edges should pull away from the pan, slightly.