How I Celebrated Juneteenth through Soul Food, and How You Can Too!
My grandmother’s home always smelled of soul food. Some of my fondest childhood memories were created at her kitchen table over a bowl of greens or in her den with a plate of baked chicken and black-eyed peas not far away. The food she would create not only smelled good and tasted even better but would leave one’s self nourished; body and soul. She as the matriarch of our family passed this cooking down. From one generation to the other, from mother to daughter, from daughter to grandchild. Anytime I ate a dish in my own childhood home prepared by my mother, I could taste the remnants of her mother’s knowledge. I could feel the warmth of not only her heart but all the loving souls of those who came before her. From her mother, a nanny of the rural south, who learned it from her mother, a daughter of slaves. Food for us as African Americans isn’t just ham hock in greens, sweet potato pie, or hoppin’ john; food for us is memory. It’s the leftover stories of those whose names were stolen from our lips and the lives of ancestors we fought to remember.
For many descendants of slaves like me, who grew up in the north due to the great migration, Juneteenth can feel like an unreachable memory. Not growing up with the same simplistic flare the rural south possesses, or not knowing the songs and cultures of our enslaved African ancestors, can make a Juneteenth celebration feel inauthentic. The over exposure of African American culture can leave one’s self wondering “how can I truly celebrate when I know nothing of my distinct culture?” Relying on the “foodways” and recipes passed down throughout the generations by word of mouth and shared knowledge has always helped me.
“Food is your flag. Food can tell us where we come from and who we are. The last thing people will give up as they make journeys and migrations is their food culture. ” – Culinary historian, historic interpreter, and author of “The Cooking Gene” Michael W. Twitty.
While it might seem like soul food is just the mash-up of the unwanted scraps from the master’s table turned health hazard of today, soul food is intrinsically artful and full of history and culture. Much of the foodways and dishes prepared by African Americans today lead back to dishes their enslaved ancestors prepared based on memories from Africa. Take low country South Carolina dish red rice, known amongst my family as “tomatas’n rice.” A seemingly simple dish that combines long-grain white rice, fresh tomatoes mashed into a paste (or canned tomato paste), onions, garlic, butter, and bacon for flavoring relates back to the popularized west African dish of jollof rice. Or other dishes like black-eyed pea fritters, crispy fried seasoned and mashed black-eyed peas, relating to the Yoruba people of south-western Nigeria.
While not all dishes have a direct link to Africa many soul food dishes incorporate ingredients originating from Africa. Many soul food dishes will incorporate okra as a side vegetable steamed, fried, or sautéed or even in soups and rich dishes like gumbo – coming from the literal west African word for okra, ki ngombo. Others will use watermelon, peanuts, black-eyed peas, or yams, all originating from Africa.
Food is more than what we eat; it tells the story of where we come from and the stories of the people before us. Cooking soul food recipes passed down to you, or even coming up with new ones of your own, is a great way to engage with cultural holidays like Juneteenth, in ways that celebrate the history and the culture but also that feel authentic.
Each Juneteenth, amongst the merriment of hanging out with friends, going out to local museums, and modern-day young fun, I take the time to cook a traditional meal. Slicing yams, otherwise called sweet potatoes, mixing in sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla extract to taste. Stewing down onions with green and red peppers to top off traditionally baked chicken. Making the “southerner turned northerner” favorite Jiffy cornbread vs the southern favorite of hot water cornbread. Seasoning black-eyed peas and collard greens with either bacon or turkey legs, whatever is at my disposal, and taking a moment before the meal to be thankful.
Juneteenth is about honoring the resilience of those before us. Celebrating their fight for freedom until the day it was won. But beyond this resilient fight that is always placed on African Americans whether ancestors or descendants, Juneteenth is about honoring their lives. The ways in which our ancestors were not just activists advocating in church pews and in the streets but also the ways in which they were mothers, fathers, and parents. The ways in which they were children with dreams in their eyes, loving aunts and uncles. The ways in which they were so beautifully human, deeply flawed, and yet imperfectly perfect. Juneteenth is about this collective memory and cultivating a feeling of community, and cooking soul food has always helped me do that.
The food I create whether for a group of family or friends or simply for myself, helps me to understand my own place in the world in relation to those that came before. Every dish I make continues to tie me not only to the past but also to the future. Tweaking dishes and adding my own flare allows me to be a part of history. To take place in the long-held cultural tradition of African Americans and create new foodways and recipes.
True Juneteenth celebration is doing what’s most freeing and authentic to you. While that might be soul food for me, that might be something different for you. So try things out! Many cities have great things to do during the Juneteenth weekend and beyond like fun museums to visit or events to go to. Maybe it isn’t a place but rather the people around you, like close friends and family. Juneteenth is all about freedom and tradition, so find your freedom, whether that’s in the flavors of ancestral soul food or in the community around you.