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The only people who use the term soul food to refer to southern cooking are black people.
Northerners have this idea that it is called "soul food", because where they can obtain it within their respective metros is that in the black community. This is because blacks moved north during the "great migration", bring southern cooking along with them.
Whites, the majority of the south, do not refer to southern cooking as "soul food". I don't get why people from the north cannot get the simple concept that it is southern cooking, not "soul food" through their heads.
The only people who use the term soul food to refer to southern cooking are black people.
Northerners have this idea that it is called "soul food", because where they can obtain it within their respective metros is that in the black community. This is because blacks moved north during the "great migration", bring southern cooking along with them.
Whites, the majority of the south, do not refer to southern cooking as "soul food". I don't get why people from the north cannot get the simple concept that it is southern cooking, not "soul food" through their heads.
In general, you may be correct, but I have heard plenty of whites who refer to homemade food as soul food. Although, I do agree that it originated from the black community (they sure know how to cook!).
As for wet ribs, it's difficult to say due to the variety differences from one area to another. In general, I have usually had great ribs here in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. I've never had any from Texas, Kansas City, or North Carolina, but I will definitely try it out when I visit.
There are tons of soul food restaurants lining 125 st in Harlem. I never went into any of them or really ever knew what food consisted of soul food.
It's simply "southern cooking". "Soul Food" is simply a term that black people often use for southern cooking.
You should call it southern cuisine.
Southern cuisine:
Fried Chicken
Fried Green Tomatoes
Black Eyed Peas
Fried Okra
Buttermilk Biscuits
Cracklin' Cornbread (never sweetened with sugar)
Turnip Greens
Collard Greens
Macaroni & Cheese (baked, not out of a blue box)
Pole Beans (Others that are common, perhaps not necessarily just in the south, include Lima Beans, Butter Beans, Pinto Beans, Crowder Peas,etc.)
Sweetened Iced Tea
Casseroles (particularly with squash)
Sweet Potato Pie
Pecan Pie
Peach Cobbler
Chicken & Dumplings
Red Velvet Cake
Fried Catfish
Cole Slaw
Hush Puppies
Pork Barbecue, with various sauce types
Others
The black population often incorporates the following dishes into their version of southern cooking (soul food):
Ham Hox
Neck Bone
Chitlins
Pig's Feet
Hog Jowls
Of course, some whites eat the five above dishes, but it is only a fraction of a percentage to the percentage of blacks who eat them.
Last edited by City Fanatic; 05-30-2009 at 10:46 AM..
The best bbq ribs I have ever had were at a Mom and Pop place "somewhere" in Virginia. No clue where. We started out in Chantilly, got lost, and were driving side roads for a few hours and stopped at the first place that had food, and gas. The place was PACKED with truckers and locals.
We ordered ribs which came with bbq beans, cornbread, hush puppies, and coleslaw. EVERYTHING was homemade. I could have eaten for 3 days on the portions they gave. Never tasted anything like it before, or after. When we were finished "Mom" came over and asked what we wanted for desert. She started to recite a long list of pies, again, all homemade. No way could I eat another bite after that dinner.
The only people who use the term soul food to refer to southern cooking are black people.
Northerners have this idea that it is called "soul food", because where they can obtain it within their respective metros is that in the black community. This is because blacks moved north during the "great migration", bring southern cooking along with them.
Whites, the majority of the south, do not refer to southern cooking as "soul food". I don't get why people from the north cannot get the simple concept that it is southern cooking, not "soul food" through their heads.
Exactly right, CF! I'd rep you again if I could (did it on another post a little earlier! LOL).
I am "copying and pasting" below a post I wrote some time back which relates to what you say. That is, the "disconnect" between how Southerners and northerners often translate the term "soul food." Here is is:
Back in the 60's, was when that expression "soul food" first gained some popularity in the American vernacular. With most of the media and TV concerns being in the NE and California, it became associated with blacks in much of the national mindset outside of the South.
The thing was, it confused many of us Southern whites because WE had eaten this great crusine described as "soul" all our lives! LOL
Well, there was (and this is a true story, remember) there was some huge plant up in Michigan (maybe they made cars) which employed so many folks they had a company cafeteria. There were all races/ethnic groups represented, including many blacks and whites originally from the South (particularly from Alabama, Tennessee and Texas).
Anyway, because of this natural diversity, there were special "food days" set aside for the respective cultures. For instance, there would be a "Greek Day" or "Italian Day" featuring the specialized foods.
Ok. Well, a group of Southern whites went to the cafeteria managment and asked about having a "Southern Day", which would feature certain good stuff like fried chicken, catfish, black-eyed peas, greens, okra and grits and cornbread! (damn, makes me hungry just to think about it! LOL)
Anyway, it was agreed to do so, and the day was posted on the company bulletin board. Problem is though, it happened to fall on the Dr. Martin Luthur King holiday!
This was just pure happenstance. But, the way it was translated to many northerners was that Southern folks from Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, etc., wanted to have a menu that, on MLK Day, would include such things as fried chicken and watermelon!
Oh man! Many northerners got "offended" and thought this was an intended insult...since none of them had any experience with the South. Their whole whole way of thinking was that what they regarded as "soul food" was to be exclusively associated with a so-called "negative stereotype" of blacks, with the same mindset being that the Southern whites were making fun of them. Maybe they even expected a minstrel show...
As it turned out, not surprisingly at all, it was a group of Southern blacks who smoothed things over. They explained to management that "hey, down where we come from, ALL of us homefolk, black AND white eat this food. There is nothing racist about it."
And again, as you say CF, what we in the South (white and black) might call "soul food" is pretty much limited to the items you mention! Otherwise, with both, it is just "Southern" or "country" cookin'!
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