Soul Food

Does the 1997 movie Soul Food accurately portray African American culture and life and is Soul Food a positive or negative portrayal of African American culture and life are two very different questions in my mind. Personally I find there to be two very straightforward and very different answers to each of these questions. Williams-Forson’s article “Still dying for some soul food?” does a very good job of pointing out that Soul Food does not do a very good job of accurately portraying the typical African American family or the time. While there are some truths or similarities between the food that is enjoyed by the Joseph family and particularly southern African American families the movie does a better job at forming a stereotypical image of a Southern African American family. From the relationship struggles to criminal problems to the food that is always consumed at the family’s Sunday supper, George Tillman Jr. seems to have found all of the stereotypes of an African American culture and put them all of the big screen together. I believe that it could have been possible to create a film of African American culture and life that had a positive projection of a family. By focusing on the traditions that do run through many families it would be reasonable to expect a film that could cover the traditional Sunday suppers a family gathers for or the history behind the food that is enjoyed. Unfortunately I find that the many stereotypes that were included in this film drowned out the more positive traditions which were turned into negative stereotypes because of the surrounding events. Since there have not been any other major box office films that cover this genre there must not have been too many people outraged enough by the film to want to paint a better picture for the world. All of this being said, I do believe that Soul Food is a good movie to watch: to understand what is being referred to when people generalize about soul food and the food of the South.

hybrids

The tortilla is an excellent example of a hybrid food. Originally created in Mexico and South America the tortilla was made of corn. When the Europeans came to the Americas and conquered the native people they integrated some of their own ingredients into those of the native cuisine. While the natives prefered to stick with corn as the base for the majority of their cooking their European conquerers prefered white flour to be substituted into the dishes that were prepared for them. As the Europeans moved north they brought with them the foods that they appreciated the most and were what they would enjoy the most. Whether transferred north as servants or on their own free will, some of the native Latinos travelled as well and brought with them their food. Today in the supermarket we can find tortillas almost as commonly as bread, but the majority of the time the tortillas we find and buy are wheat flour tortillas, not corn. Moving north has been able to allow the Latino culture to spread and expand to previously unimaginable places. The down side of all of this however is that while the culture spread it also had to adapt to the new locations. Adapting is almost always necessary to survive but it also causes the newly placed cultures to have to surrendure some of their most prized ideas. Though it is still possible to buy corn tortillas in the supermarket, as well as specialty store, they are not as common as the wheat flour tortillas, at least in most of North America. It is true that selling even wheat tortillas does remind people of the culture they originated from but so often the memories are focused not on reality but what people think is the truth about the past based on what is on the shelf in front of them.

so what is a meal?

So what is a meal? Does there have to be a meat and a vegetable ton constitute a meal? If so, how is it possible for a vegetarian or vegan to eat a "meal"? If this is the definition of a meal then there will be countless exceptions to the rule. Is it possible to have a meal in a fully liquid form or must there be solids involved? Usually when asked what is a meal people are likely to respond that a meal is food eaten at breakfast, lunch, or dinner time. While a morning breakfast, midday lunch, and evening dinner are considered to be typical meal times how does it guarantee that what we are eating at the time constitutes a meal? Does eating a pint of moose tracks ice cream in the place of dinner mean that I ate a meal, or thawing a bag of precooked edimame and eating them at dinner time but as I walk to class, does that constitute a meal? There seem to be hidden rules about what actually equals a meal and what is simply an extra on the side or a snack instead of a full blown meal. Mary Douglas claims that meals and drinks are different but if you turn on the television you are likely to see an advertisement for a meal in a bottle whether it is a drinkable yogurt or slimfast. All of these products that are promoted as having the same nutrients as a regular sit-down meal so what does it mean to have a meal? Typically women are more likely to accept a meal that is in liquid form due to the idea that it will help them lose weight. Men on the other hand tend to want a meal that has a substantial piece of meat. Different cultures are more likely to have different guidelines for pinpointing what a meal is. In addition different classes will be willing to accept different answers for a meal and sometimes even within the different ages of a class. I know people of a lower class who accpet eating meals at McDonald's for any meal of the day but people of an upper class only find it acceptable for children and teenagers to eat at somewhere like McDonald's. So what acctually is a meal? This question I believe depends on who is answering it but in general is likely to include answers such as time, place, and what is eaten.

taste

Taste is a sense that most of the world is privileged to have. Often associated with consuming food, taste however is not just an experience with food but with any other aspect of life. Tasting food nonetheless does form many of the experiences that we have in life. Taste is essential in truly enjoying the food that we eat and being able to appreciate the food, the preparation, and the ambiance of the area. Though we taste with our tongue where we are eating plays a big part in how much we actually taste and savor the flavors of what we eat rather than simply inhaling or scarfing down a burger at a fast food joint. Taking the time to enjoy the people that you are eating with, and if not, at least the actual food that you are consuming really plays into the taste that you receive from the food. Arlene Avakin describes her American relatives as not knowing “the taste of their own tongues” because so often in American we speed through our meals not even realizing what we are eating let alone taking time to taste everything. Class, and in some ways race, often determines the taste that people have because of the food that they often eat. Spending lots of time eating at fast food restaurants and eating food out of cardboard boxes people of lower classes tend to lose any of the flavor that is left in foods by rushing through everything that they eat. We are more likely to find people of an upper class status who have a more developed sense of taste because of the time set aside specifically for dining and enjoying the food that is eaten and the people who they are with. When a person is able to appreciate what they are eating they are more likely to have an appreciation for who made the food and who they are eating it with, if anyone, and are more likely to be able to taste all the different flavors. Everyone has their own tastes that they enjoy and appreciate but often these tastes are shaped by the environment around you and what you have had the opportunity to experience.

cuisine

What is cuisine? Such a deep question can be explained as generally as a system of communication or a code as Mary Douglas or Warren Belasco might put it. Cuisine is a system of thinking about and creating food that often has a “theme” or specific patterning to it that is based from the availability of sources as well as the geography and climate of where the food is produced and made. It is necessary that groups have a cuisine because cuisines lead to cultural identities. Many places are too large to have one specific national cuisine but often the different subcultures have commonalities that can join together to form a general food that can appear to be part of an umbrella cuisine that encompasses a larger number of people. The idea is that cuisine is a form of communication that ties many people together even when they are far apart. As time has progressed more and more people have travelled and migrated to new areas but they have all brought with them the food that has made them who they are. This food that travels with people and doesn’t get lost in the move is what makes up the cuisine of the land that they have left but remains a part of the culture that they are still a part of.
In what is currently Mexico, corn was the main staple of the native diet. With this maize the people made various different dishes but one of the main ones was tortillas. When the Europeans came and conquered the people they brought with them wheat flour that was seen as horrid to the natives. The native people continued to make their tortillas with corn flour even when the Europeans had started to incorporate new foods into their diet. Today in the United States when someone says a tortilla a white flour tortilla is often what comes to mind rather than the traditional corn tortillas that came from the south. Does the change in flour mean that these tortillas are not part of the cuisine that originated in the Mexican area or does this just show that cuisine can adapt to what is preferred for new people? Adapting a food to please employers, the main concept of the tortillas was still kept since it obviously had meaning behind it as well as a connection to other people. Every small group of people is going to have its own specific cuisine but there will often be some similarities that hold all the groups together.
The idea of cuisine is to bring similar people together with food at the center. Soul food originally from the American South has changed as it has moved North but the idea is the same and when someone says “soul food” there is a general idea of greens, fried fish and/or barbeque, and maybe some homemade macaroni and cheese. In the end the exact food served may not be the same but the idea comes from the same place and the smell of the food cooking and the community of people ties everything together and familiarity of the gathering binds the cuisine and the people together.

food and gloablization

Globalization, food labor, gender, and race seem so different but the truth is that they can all be interrelated at times. Centuries ago globalization of food and food labor began when food was spread from Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Not only was food shared among various peoples but along with the food came the ways it was produced and prepared. With farmers, mainly men, producing the main produce and women preparing the food for consumption, there were commonalities across the globe and if not they grew into the customs of the areas. Food is one thing that everyone in the entire world has in common since everyone has to eat, even if the food is different. Even within the same country there will be differences between races and the food that is consumed but how the food gets to the mouth tends to be very similar even between races and countries. Women working in domestic kitchens are common all across the world whereas if men are associated with food it is in a professional setting that is very public and supposedly more demanding. The few times in history that women have been paid for their labor in the kitchen was usually when they working in the homes of very wealthy people and prepared the meals for the family, not in a public setting. The globalization of food has caused not only the foods of different areas to spread but also the dishes and specialties that are associated with each food and with that comes who completes the task. Every culture is different in its own way but since everyone is human we are likely to have some similarities and once we have started to spread out and share ideas more similarities will appear and while everything will still be different there will always be something that links us all together, food and its processes.

cultural cookbooks

Kids Cooking by the editors of Klutz Press may not seem like a very cultural cookbook but what better cookbook to describe the American culture. Kids Cooking isn’t really racially or class biased but this cookbook does an excellent job portraying the identity of children. Very often when children are younger they want to explore in the kitchen and feel like they are “big kids” who are able to help prepare significant parts of meals. The book Through the Kitchen Window tells many stories of young girls who grew up watching their mother or grandmother work in the kitchen and how they were able to help out with the small things that helped to create the bigger food item. Many of the stories in Through the Kitchen Window that include kids in the kitchen are often of immigrant families to the United States rather than families who have a more solid base in the United States so children’s cookbooks like Kids Cooking do a nice job of introducing American children to the kitchen. This is a book that allows parents and their children to work together and to learn from each other the intricacies of the kitchen. Learning how to keep a safe and clean kitchen and how to properly read recipes is one of the first things that this cookbook introduces and for many people who don’t have a kitchen background, this can be quite confusing. Learning how to make scrambled eggs and later muffins is a great way for kids to not only understand how to make the foods but to see how important each individual meal is to the entire American cuisine. Moving on to dancing tuna salad in an ice cream cone and five different ways to cook a potato, kids learn how many different foods are common in our society and they are simple enough that everyone can prepare them. Often cuisine and culture are associated with rigidly defined groups such as Indian, Armenian, or Jewish but there are also many cultural foods that can also be associated with ages of people and the amount of time that people have spent in the kitchen, such as kids or new chefs. Kids Cooking may be one of the simplest cookbooks in print but it makes an excellent point in introducing people in America to the basic homemade staples that are often forgotten and form the basis for our culture.