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.
While a number of scholars have discussed slaves and their foods, slave foodways remains a relatively unexplored topic. The authors' findings also augment existing knowledge about slave nutrition while documenting new information about slave diets.
Author(s): Dwight Eisnach, Herbert C. Covey
Publisher: Greenwood
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 311
Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 8
Acknowledgments......Page 14
1. The WPA Narratives and Slave Diets......Page 16
2. Slave Nutrition......Page 25
3. African Roots and Food Traditions......Page 54
4. Slave Cooking and Meals......Page 66
5. Vegetables......Page 88
6. Meat......Page 110
7. Wild Game and Fish......Page 128
8. Dairy......Page 150
9. Grains, Cereals, and Baked Goods......Page 159
10. Fruits, Nuts, and Coffee......Page 182
11. Celebrations, Special Occasions, and the War......Page 199
12. Closing Observations......Page 224
APPENDICES: FOODS IDENTIFIED IN THE WPA NARRATIVES......Page 230
Appendix A: Vegetables......Page 232
Appendix B: Meats......Page 246
Appendix C: Wild Game: Birds......Page 259
Appendix D: Wild Game: Fish/Shellfish......Page 262
Appendix E: Wild Game: Reptiles and Amphibians......Page 265
Appendix F: Wild Game: Mammals......Page 266
Appendix G: Dairy......Page 272
Appendix H: Grains......Page 277
Appendix I: Baked Goods......Page 280
Appendix J: Fruit......Page 290
Appendix K: Nuts......Page 295
Appendix L: Sugar/Molasses/Spices......Page 297
Appendix M: Beverages......Page 303
Appendix N: General or Unclear......Page 312
Bibliography......Page 314
C......Page 322
F......Page 323
M......Page 324
R......Page 325
Y......Page 326
