United States African Americans

Recipes

Geographic Setting and Environment

There are African Americans living in all fifty of the United States. The ten states with the largest populations of African Americans are New York, California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Louisiana, Michigan, and Maryland. Although most African Americans live in cities, it is impossible to generalize about how and where they live. African American families, like European American families, make their homes in every type of community—urban, suburban, and rural.

History and Food

In the 1600s, African slaves were brought to the United States, along with their food and styles of cooking. They brought okra, sesame seeds, peanuts, black-eyed peas, and rice. Using these foods, they introduced new recipes to the existing American dishes.

The slaves were also given only a small portion of food each week, so they learned to make dishes with the foods they had, such as pork, cornmeal, and vegetables. Several of these dishes such as cornbread and grits, which are dried and boiled grains from corn, are still made as of the twenty-first century. African Americans also continue to use molasses as a sweetener in their dishes and in drinks, such as iced tea.

Beginning in the 1960s, interest in African American culture and heritage has grown. Many African Americans celebrate the cultural holiday Kwanzaa, don colorful dress reflecting their African heritage, and promote a unique ethnic style of cooking, sometimes called "soul food." During the 1960s and 1970s African American business people established "soul food" restaurants all over the country, where Americans of all ethnic origins could enjoy spicy barbecued meats and poultry, tasty greens, cornbread, and other home-style dishes.

See Collard Greens recipe.

See Hush Puppies recipe.

See Molasses Water recipe.

Foods of the African Americans

Sweet potatoes and yams have been a large part of African Americans' diet since African slaves brought them to the United States in the 1600s. Eating cornbread and grits (dried and boiled grains from corn) are also traditions, as well as sweetening dishes and drinks with molasses.

Other traditional African American foods and dishes include barbecued meat, sweet cornbread, fried chicken, and of course, desserts. A delicacy that has been a specialty of African Americans especially in the South is chitterlings (nicknamed "chitlins") made from pig stomach and intestines that have been boiled and then deep-fried.

See Sweet Potato Pie recipe.

See Red Beans and Rice recipe.

Food for Religious and Holiday Celebrations

African Americans enjoy inviting family and friends over to visit during the holidays. With busy schedules like families everywhere, African Americans often plan family visits months in advance.

Many African Americans hold annual family reunions, often on July 4, Independence Day. Relatives come from all over the United States, often meeting at a different family's home each year. Large, extended families may even hold their reunions at a park where large picnic areas can accommodate the dozens of families in attendance.

Preparations begin one or two days before July 4. Barbecued meat, especially chicken and pork spareribs, is the main dish. Individual families contribute a variety of homemade pies and cakes; sweetened iced tea and lemonade are favorite beverages. Side dishes include potato salad, greens, yams, or candied sweet potatoes, and homemade butter pound cake.

See Potato Salad recipe.

For breakfast on Christmas Day, African Americans often eat grits, eggs, sausage or ham, and freshly baked biscuits with butter and syrup. For Christmas dinner a baked ham, baked chicken with cornbread stuffing, green vegetables, cornbread, candied yams, rice, and baked macaroni and cheese are staples. Apple pie and fruitcake are traditionally served for dessert.

See Baked Macaroni and Cheese recipe.

See Kwanzaa Brownies recipe.

Mealtime Customs

It is tradition for African Americans to eat a lot of food for breakfast. They may eat chicken, waffles, grits (dried and boiled grains from corn), ham, corn fritters, and bacon. Traditionally in the South, a Sunday breakfast includes fried apples, grits, and pork sausage. Salad, including leftover salad, may also be eaten as a breakfast dish.

Bologna is a popular luncheon meat for many African Americans. It is sometimes eaten at breakfast instead of bacon, and it is eaten in sandwiches for lunch.

Many African Americans enjoy inviting family and friends home for a barbecue or a fish fry. Popular snacks are roasted peanuts, pecans, and limbo cakes (deep-fried plantains, or bananas). Soft drinks, iced tea, and lemonade are popular beverages.

See Fried Apples recipe.

See Tomato, Cucumber, and Onion Salad recipe.

See Fried Bologna recipe.

Politics, Economics, and Nutrition

According to estimates in 2000 there were 8.7 million African American families in the United States, about 44 percent of which were headed by single women. African American couples tend to have larger families—just over 20 percent of African American married couple families have five or more members, compared to 12 percent of white (not of Hispanic origin) married-couple families. About half of all African American married-couple families had incomes of $50,000 or more (compared to 60 percent of white married-couple families). In 1999 about 24 percent of African Americans were living in poverty, an all-time record low in the United States.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion's Healthy Eating Index, most Americans eat a diet that needs improvement. Only five percent of African Americans (compared to 11 percent of whites) have a diet categorized as "good" (based on ten measures including total consumption of fat, cholesterol, and sodium), and 28 percent of African Americans (compared to 16 percent of whites) have a diet categorized as "poor."

Further Study

Broussard, Antoinette. African-American Holiday Traditions: Celebrating with Passion, Style, and Grace. New York: Citadel Press, 2000.

Copage, Eric V. Kwanzaa: An African-American Celebration of Culture and Cooking. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1991.

Harris, Jessica B. A Kwanzaa Keepsake: celebrating the holiday with new traditions and feasts. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

Harris, Jessica B. The Welcome Table: African-American Heritage Cooking. New York: Fireside, 1995.

Mack-Williams, Kibibi. Food and Our History. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Press, Inc., 1995.

Medearis, Angela Shelf. The African-American Kitchen: Cooking from our Heritage. New York: Penguin Group, 1994.

Web Sites

The Chitterling Site. [Online] Available http://www.chitterlings.com (accessed August 24, 2001).

The Holiday Spot. [Online] Available http://www.theholidayspot.com/kwanzaa/kwanzaa_recipes.htm (accessed April 10, 2001).

Kwanzaa for Kids. [Online] Available http://kwanzaa4kids.homestead.com/kwanzaabrownies~main.html (accessed April 18, 2001).

Mim's Cyber Kitchen Presents Kwanzaa. [Online] Available http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/holidays/kwanzaa/recipes.htm (accessed August 24, 2001).

Morris, DeNita S.B. "From Fish Fry to Stir Fry: The African American Eating Experience. [Online] Available http://www.bet.com/FOOD/0,1821,C-9-68-188214,00.html (accessed July 23, 2001).