Soul Food (kitchen)
Soul Food (about soul food ) is the name of the traditional cuisine of African Americans in the United States with a focus on the South .
history
In the 1960s, soul food became part of the ethnic identity of African American people in the United States, and the first restaurants to do this were opened. On the one hand, this is related to the civil rights movement initiated by Martin Luther King , and on the other hand, with the emergence of Black Muslims and the resulting increased self-confidence of this ethnic group.
Developed from a kitchen of shortage, many dishes are now an integral part of US cuisine and are also popular internationally, for example spare ribs or chicken wings . Originally, during and after slavery, African Americans in the United States mostly had to be content with inferior or cheap foods or foods that had no other use, such as less popular cuts of meat such as offal , pork feet and ears, or chicken wings.
Basics and ingredients
Although some African ingredients such as okra are used, this cuisine is based on the cooking style of the American South, not African cuisines. But European and indigenous influences can also be found. Corn , various peas and beans , catfish , shrimp and turkey were adopted from the indigenous ("Indian") cuisine .
In addition to the self-hunted animals such as gray squirrels , opossums , rabbits , deer as well as various fish as well as mussels and the slaughter residues, above all corn, wheat , rice , potatoes and sweet potatoes form the basis of satiety in this cuisine. On some plantations in the southern states, the slaves had their own small gardens where they kept chickens and ducks and could plant vegetables.
Typical spices in this cuisine are cayenne pepper , nutmeg , allspice , cinnamon , cloves , sesame , saffron , thyme and vinegar . In addition to beans and peas, popular vegetables are various types of cabbage , pumpkin and turnips ; and onions are often used. Soul food contains a lot of fat and sugar in order to improve the taste of foods that used to be of poor quality. Meat is mainly braised, deep-fried and fried, vegetables are often steamed with lard. Strongly sweetened iced tea is very popular , and buttermilk is also traditionally drunk.
Well-known dishes
- Grits ( corn grits , similar to polenta )
- Glazed Sweet Potatoes (glazed sweet potatoes)
- Chicken or Turkey Wings (chicken, turkey wings )
- Chicken drumsticks ( drumsticks )
- Chicken Liver ( Chicken Liver )
- Chitterlings (pork offal)
- Spare ribs (ribs)
- Corn pudding / corn bread ( corn pudding / corn bread )
- Collard Greens (green vegetables, similar to kale)
- Fatback (smoked and salted pork bacon)
- Meatballs (meatballs)
- ox tail soup
- Boiled pork feet
- Hoppin 'John (rice with black eyed peas and pork bacon)
- Johnny Cakes (salted cornmeal pancakes )
- Hushpuppys
