Macon Magazine

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2024 | maconmagazine.com 47 W e s t A f r i c a i n C e n t r a l G e o r g i a k i t c h e n s STORY BY CLARENCE W. THOMAS, JR. S oul food is a staple in the diets of most Southern Black Americans. But the beloved cuisine transcends centuries, cultures, classes, and continents as a comforting source of sustenance. Join us as we explore its origins and why some believe the African version of this "roots" food is next. An active legacy Fried chicken, rice, greens, black-eyed peas, candied yams. Salivating yet? Keep thinking on these soul food standards, and if you're into them, you will. Ever thought about how they came about? Probably not. That's because, like most food, we only consider the results – full bellies and satisfying feelings – and not the source. Especially if the food has unfamiliar and sometimes unsettling beginnings, as is the case with soul food. The slave trade was an ugly episode in American history, but as repulsive as that period was, soul food is partly owed to it. Many of the items on today's soul food menus were not from the Americas, although crops, like corn and sweet potato, of this land's Indigenous peoples were incorporated. Items like rice and greens were loaded onto slave ships along with African people as a means of sustaining them during the arduous, often months long, journeys. Africans used ingenuity and creativity to stay alive after arriving on American shores. In the absence of choice cuts of meat , they turned the often discarded portions of livestock (pigs, cows) like the head, tail, feet, and organs into dishes that were not only edible but palatable. The same could be said for carbs and veggies. Sweet potatoes replaced yam, cornbread filled in for fufu (a pounded-yam dough made for soaking up the liquid in dishes), as collards and turnips stood in for the leafy vegetables back home. Okra, of Ethiopian origin, was boiled or made into stews when it was not fried. Rodney Mason, the founder of Restored Roots in Macon, considers soul food the ancestral food of Black people. Mason co-presents "A Jubilee," an annual food education event designed to provide participants with empowering information that improves their lives and the environment. "Soul food is a manifestation of the things we as a people lost," he added. "It fills in gaps in our history." As a public historian and dramaturg, Deitrah Taylor couldn't agree more with Mason. The Central Georgia resident specializes in research that ensures that theatrical productions, documentaries, and films are historically accurate when they hit the stage or big screen. Her familiarity with soul food's roots is partly owed to her upbringing. Taylor is the descendant of a Gullah Geechee great-grandmother not far removed from slavery. She was partly raised by her grandmother, whose food, like the culture and language of the Gullah Geechee people, bears a striking resemblance to that of West Africans. As the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor's website explains, they descend from West and Central Africans who were enslaved and brought to isolated plantations and sea and barrier islands in the coastal Southeast. In these secluded locales, they were able to retain many African traditions in food, the arts, LEFT Chi Ezekwueche prepares a West African dinner in her home. Photo courtesy of Visionary Communications. "The language of food is the language of God and our ancestors. It transmits into warmth, love, and unity."

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