Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time

While many aspects of African American culture have been embraced by the mainstream, Miller contends that soul food remains largely ignored, mostly owing to its unhealthy image. In an attempt to revamp its poor reputation, Miller offers up this comprehensive and entertaining history of soul food, tracing its evolution from its beginnings with slavery to the Great Migrations from the rural South. While different slaving systems led to subregional cuisines, such as Lowcountry, Creole, and Cajun, Miller focuses on the Deep South, or Black Belt, as the heart of soul food. Chapters are divided into the dishes most representative of the cuisine, including fried chicken, catfish, chitlins, cornbread, black-eyed peas, mac and cheese, Kool-Aid, banana pudding, and sweet potato pie. Consulting historical cookbooks and firsthand accounts of the enslaved and visiting soul food restaurants across the country, Miller discusses the evolution of each dish and explains why it has attained a permanent place in soul food cuisine.