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I don't know what you mean by soul food traditions but Afro Americans created soul food...It's attributed to us for a reason..If anything Southern whites whom adopted some of our soul food dishes just made it mainstream/digestible to the rest of white America..
Are you just trying to be contrary/argumentive/ or what? LOL
Hell, to a lot of yankees, Southern cooking is the last thing in the world they would consider digestable. And, further, to be honest?...I wouldn't have it any other way. It is the one thing that keep our Southern identity seperate!
But seriously, what you call "soul" is a unique genre of cooking/food that is a blend of African and Anglo-Celtic folks of the South. A fusion of many years of catfishing together, so to speak!
Sure it is "soul". As in comfort food and good for the soul and heart and hearth and home. Northerners might call it soul and associate it as ethnic.
Southerners -- black and white -- welllll, it just calls us to the table.
The first time I wen't to a soul food resturant I was expecting something exotic and different based upon what the media had told me about it.
I remember being very disappointing when I read the menu an realized I had not only eaten every single piece of food they offered, but it was baisically what I recognized as regular American food and I even knew how to cook almost everything they offered.
Needless to say that was the last time I ever went to a soul food restaurant, even though the food is good.
Soul Food is not an African food, it's an American food. If anyone deserves credit for creating it, its the Native Americans who were cooking and eating soul food for almost a thousand years before blacks or whites even came here.
The only food and culture unfortunately that is uniquely Southern and African at the same time is the food and culture of the Gullah people from the coastal areas of the Carolinas.
I say unfortunately because when Africans were brought here as slaves they were stripped of everything, including there cuisine, and it was a f***in shame. who knows how incredibly diverse and rich African American culture would be today if Africans had at least been allowed to keep there names, countries of origin, and unique culture, and staked out there own communities of people from there country of origin as opposed to all being clumped together as Black.
Soul Food was not created by or even mostly consumed by African Americans, it was merely named by African Americans who moved to the North and the style of cooking and food was vastly different from what Whites in the north ate.
As for Elvis, if you truly believe that his music was stolen from blacks you are the same type of person that probably believes every and anything you are told. Many of Elvis most popular songs are songs that were originally written and performed by white people. The most famous of course being "Blue Suede Shoes" originally written and performed by Carl Perkins.
The thing you have to understand about Tennessee is it culturally was a much different place 100 or even 50 years ago from almost anywhere else in the south.
Unlike other areas in the south where it was extremely rare to find white sharecroppers and neighborhoods that were racially mixed, this was not that uncommon in Tennessee, Carl Perkins himself was the son of sharecroppers and picked cotton as a child in the fields. In fact, my grandparents were sharecroppers, as were there parents, and both of them were raised in neighborhoods that were racially mixed.
TN was different than most of the south, in being that poor whites and blacks in general had very similar cultures to each other because they worked in the same places, and even lived in the same neighborhoods as each other.
My grandfather was born in the 20s and had black neighbors on both sides of his house and his neighbors across the street were also white.
Where as other states in the south the super rich whites oppressed & exploited blacks after slavery an also tried to manipulate poor whites into hating and oppressing Blacks in any way they could. Rich whites in TN basically exploited and oppressed anyone who wasn't a direct descendant of slave masters or who wasn't born into wealth. There were many communities in TN less than a hundred years ago where whites who made under a certain income were not allowed the right to vote, or even live in areas where rich whites lived. Before schools were even integrated in TN there were many neighborhoods and towns that were integrated because those were the only places poor whites and any blacks were allowed to live.
Many of this part of TN history is overlooked and downright lied about and not taught because it contradicts the southern stereotypes that the media and history books feel the need to portray.
With that being said people like to say that Elvis stole black music, in reality he took poor TN culture and made it mainstream and huge.
Yes that culture was filled with blacks, but it also included whites and even Native Americans. The only people that can't stake a claim to it are people not from TN, or people from TN whose ancestors were the rich ruling class whose oppression ironically created it.
Last edited by Observation; 02-19-2011 at 12:56 AM..
Location: The Greatest city on Earth: City of Atlanta Proper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Observation
The first time I wen't to a soul food resturant I was expecting something exotic and different based upon what the media had told me about it.
I remember being very disappointing when I read the menu an realized I had not only eaten every single piece of food they offered, but it was baisically what I recognized as regular American food and I even knew how to cook almost everything they offered.
Needless to say that was the last time I ever went to a soul food restaurant, even though the food is good.
Soul Food is not an African food, it's an American food. If anyone deserves credit for creating it, its the Native Americans who were cooking and eating soul food for almost a thousand years before blacks or whites even came here.
The only food and culture unfortunately that is uniquely Southern and African at the same time is the food and culture of the Gullah people from the coastal areas of the Carolinas.
I say unfortunately because when Africans were brought here as slaves they were stripped of everything, including there cuisine, and it was a f***in shame. who knows how incredibly diverse and rich African American culture would be today if Africans had at least been allowed to keep there names, countries of origin, and unique culture, and staked out there own communities of people from there country of origin as opposed to all being clumped together as Black..
There is so much wrong with this post (just about everything) that all I can say is "No". If you need further explanation I will do so, but for now: no.
The first time I wen't to a soul food resturant I was expecting something exotic and different based upon what the media had told me about it.
I remember being very disappointing when I read the menu an realized I had not only eaten every single piece of food they offered, but it was baisically what I recognized as regular American food and I even knew how to cook almost everything they offered.
Needless to say that was the last time I ever went to a soul food restaurant, even though the food is good.
Soul Food is not an African food, it's an American food. If anyone deserves credit for creating it, its the Native Americans who were cooking and eating soul food for almost a thousand years before blacks or whites even came here.
The only food and culture unfortunately that is uniquely Southern and African at the same time is the food and culture of the Gullah people from the coastal areas of the Carolinas.
I say unfortunately because when Africans were brought here as slaves they were stripped of everything, including there cuisine, and it was a f***in shame. who knows how incredibly diverse and rich African American culture would be today if Africans had at least been allowed to keep there names, countries of origin, and unique culture, and staked out there own communities of people from there country of origin as opposed to all being clumped together as Black.
Soul Food was not created by or even mostly consumed by African Americans, it was merely named by African Americans who moved to the North and the style of cooking and food was vastly different from what Whites in the north ate.
As for Elvis, if you truly believe that his music was stolen from blacks you are the same type of person that probably believes every and anything you are told. Many of Elvis most popular songs are songs that were originally written and performed by white people. The most famous of course being "Blue Suede Shoes" originally written and performed by Carl Perkins.
The thing you have to understand about Tennessee is it culturally was a much different place 100 or even 50 years ago from almost anywhere else in the south.
Unlike other areas in the south where it was extremely rare to find white sharecroppers and neighborhoods that were racially mixed, this was not that uncommon in Tennessee, Carl Perkins himself was the son of sharecroppers and picked cotton as a child in the fields. In fact, my grandparents were sharecroppers, as were there parents, and both of them were raised in neighborhoods that were racially mixed.
TN was different than most of the south, in being that poor whites and blacks in general had very similar cultures to each other because they worked in the same places, and even lived in the same neighborhoods as each other.
My grandfather was born in the 20s and had black neighbors on both sides of his house and his neighbors across the street were also white.
Where as other states in the south the super rich whites oppressed & exploited blacks after slavery an also tried to manipulate poor whites into hating and oppressing Blacks in any way they could. Rich whites in TN basically exploited and oppressed anyone who wasn't a direct descendant of slave masters or who wasn't born into wealth. There were many communities in TN less than a hundred years ago where whites who made under a certain income were not allowed the right to vote, or even live in areas where rich whites lived. Before schools were even integrated in TN there were many neighborhoods and towns that were integrated because those were the only places poor whites and any blacks were allowed to live.
Many of this part of TN history is overlooked and downright lied about and not taught because it contradicts the southern stereotypes that the media and history books feel the need to portray.
With that being said people like to say that Elvis stole black music, in reality he took poor TN culture and made it mainstream and huge.
Yes that culture was filled with blacks, but it also included whites and even Native Americans. The only people that can't stake a claim to it are people not from TN, or people from TN whose ancestors were the rich ruling class whose oppression ironically created it.
"He began his career there in 1954 when Sun Records owner Sam Phillips, eager to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience, saw in Presley the means to realize his ambition."
"His energized interpretations of songs, many from African American sources, and his uninhibited performance style made him enormously popular—and controversial"
A few of these posters on this board are a perfect example of our failing education system. Another thing; it's a FACT Elvis stole music from the blacks.
Most HBCUs found in the South but there are more outside the South than you are given credit.
Pennsylvania has 2 HBCUs(Lincoln University,Cheyney Univ. of Penn)
Ohio also has a couple(Central State University, Wilberforce Univ.)
Missouri has 2 more (Harris-Stowe State University,Lincoln Univ. of Missouri)
Cali has one(Charles Drew Univ. of Medicine and Science)
Michigan has Lewis College of Business
Even the Virgin Islands has one HBCU(Unversity of the Virgin Islands)
So HBCUs are clearly exclusively Southern..That's not even accounting all the blacks from regions from outside the South that attend HBCUs located here.
For the last time soul food is Afro American food not Southern cause it was created by and consumed by mostly people of Afro American background regardless of region..More Afro Americans from regions out the South eat soul food than Southern whites.
Whom's to say everyone chiming on here is African American? I can only recall maybe a couple of guys besides you disputing what i'm saying and one was Asian..Besides the opinions of those on message board not a good way to judge the consensus feelings of Afro Americans in reality.
There are only five true HBCU's outside the south. Meaning four year schools that offer traditional degrees. Those others you listed are professional and two year schools. So as I said before, you can count on one hand how many are outside the South. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who would argue that HBCU's are not part of "Black Southern Culture". As well, regarding your Soul Food argument that you still don't get, I'll tell you what. Next time you're outside the South, either up North, the Midwest, or out West, go to a Soul Food resturant and ask the owners, "Where does this type of food you're serving orginate?" You and I, and everyone else on this board know what they're going to say....THE SOUTH!!!
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