The Significance

In my previous blog posts, I covered the food that Africans and African Americans ate during pre-colonial Africa, during Slavery, after Slavery, and during modern times with soul food. It was a lot of information, and some parts were hard to swallow, but you may be asking: why is this important? Why is doing foodways research about African American Food History important? It is Untold History.

The reason why I am choosing to focus on African American Food History is because it is untold history. In history classes, when covering the events in the US during the 15th to 19th centuries, food is never a topic of conversation. I can't remember one class or assignment that told me how enslaved Africans ate or the history of the foods they ate. Sharecropping and farming was only talked about in relation to Black Codes, Jim Crow, and the newly abolished slavery amendment.

We are currently in the early half of the 21st century and as you may have noticed, most of my citations were created during the 21st century. People like Erik Green (2023) had enough research and facts to create a 13-page essay about pre-colonial Africa. Finding information online from those who actually experienced sharecropping or records of food history requires a lot of time and money. However, as an African American myself, I think it is important to talk about the history of the foods so deeply associated within my culture.

I didn't know that yams or oil-palms was an African crop from the year 1000 AD. Oil Palm, or as it's more commonly known, Palm Oil is used in cooking as a way to coat cast iron skillets in today's society. As I wrote in Soul Food (Blog 4), yams and sweet potatoes alike are one of the primary foods when we think of soul food. Foods like collard greens and cornbread are also foods I consume yearly, especially during the holidays, but didn't know the origin of. It's Untold History to me because it's part of history that it isn't talked about enough.

Now, I'm not saying that it is anyone's job to teach me my heritage, but I am saying that it should be promoted. Learning where you came from (as an African American) is just as important as knowing that the food you consume is widely available because your ancestors planted them. Zeide (2023) says, "These Black servants often developed economies of their own, grew their own food, and bartered or sold excess to earn enough to purchase their freedom" (p. 61).

Food is significant to African American history because it was never just about consumption but about how conditions prompted change and development.