WHAT IS SOUL FOOD

In the mid 1960's when the civil Right Movement was just beginning, terms like soul man, soulful and just soul were used in connection with blacks. It caught on with main stream American and someone coined the term, soul food for the black cuisine and it stuck. My dad said when they gave pork the name soul food the price of pig parts and pig inners double in price and everything the Government though was soul food the price was double and that was the end of low cost PIG PARTS.

Each black family, however, has it’s own idea of what is soul food.
Today most people think of soul food, is a table heavy with trays of watermelon, ribs, candied sweet potatoes or yams, greens and fried chicken. Hogshead cheese sliced on saltine crackers with hot sauce and beer is one such dish. Crab cakes, carrot and raisin salad, fried cornpone, hush puppies, red beans and rice, greens, liver and onions, lima beans with ham hogs, stewed okra and tomatoes, cornbread dipped in buttermilk, fried catfish, smothered chicken, pickled pigs feet, cabbage, neck bones, tongue, chittlin’s, tripe, gumbo, breaded fried pork chops with a mess of green, black-eyed peas…..…… and grits. Although grits is truly a southern dish.

Our family idea of soul food cooking is how really good southern
Black Cooks, cooked. They would cook with what they had available to them; such as chickens from their own back yard and collard greens they grew themselves, as well as home cured ham, and baking powder biscuits, chitlins and other pig parts.

WHAT’S COOKIN' VEGETABLE SOUP

WHAT’S ON HAND VEGETABLE SOUP

Here is a simple recipe for chunky vegetable soup using ingredients that you have on hand. This is easy to make and can be served as a starter or as a main course. Don’t worry if you don’t have every vegetable listed; this soup recipe is very flexible. Use whatever you have on hand.

1 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons oil
8 cups water or vegetable stock
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet potato or rutabaga, diced
1 white potato, diced
1 cup green beans, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup fresh peas
1 cup chopped cabbage, kale, collards, or other green
1 tablespoon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried herbs (thyme, rosemary, tarragon, savory, etc.)
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
salt and black pepper to taste

Place onion, celery, carrots, and oil in large soup pot. Sauté 10 minutes over medium heat until onions are soft.

Add water or stock, garlic, potatoes, beans, and vegetables. Bring to boil. Cover and simmer 20 to 30 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Add remaining ingredients except parsley, and seasonings. Simmer 10 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Remove from heat. Stir in parsley. Season with salt and black pepper.

Don’t forget the corn bread.

Makes 6 to 8 servings