Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America

264 Pages·2022·4.727 MB·English

by  Psyche A. Williams-Forson

EATING WHILE BLACK
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EATING
W HIL E
BL ACK
FOOD SHAMING
AND RACE
IN AMERICA
Psyche A. Williams-Forson
the university of north carolina press
chapel hill
© 2022 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Designed by April Leidig
Set in Minion by Copperline Book Services
Manufactured in the United States of America
The University of North Carolina Press has been a
member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Cover images: hand and apple © LivDeco/Shutterstock; woman’s profile
© WibbyDesigns/Shutterstock
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Williams-Forson, Psyche A., author.
Title: Eating while black : food shaming and race in America /
Psyche A. Williams-Forson.
Other titles: Food shaming and race in America
Description: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2022] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021060590 | ISBN 9781469668451 (cloth ; alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781469668468 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: African Americans—Food. | Blacks—Food—United States. |
Food habits—United States. | Food—Social aspects—United States. | Stigma (Social
psychology)—United States. | Racism against Blacks—United States.
Classification: LCC E185.89.F66 W55 2022 | DDC 394.1/23—dc23/eng/20211222
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021060590
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations vii
Introduction
Worry about Yourself:
When Food Shaming Black Folk Is a Thing
1
Chapter 1
It’s a Low-Down, Dirty Shame:
Food and Anti-Black Racism
23
Chapter 2
In Her Mouth Was an Olive Leaf Pluck’d Off:
Food Choice in Times of Dislocation
57
Chapter 3
What’s This in My Salad?
Food Shaming, the Real Unhealthy Ingredient
89
Chapter 4
Eating in the Meantime:
Expanding African American Food Stories
in a Changing Food World
141
Epilogue
When Racism Rests on Your Plate,
Indeed, Worry about Yourself
191
Acknowledgments 205
Notes 209
Bibliography 231
Index 245
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure 1.1: Food article, People’s Advocate, August 4, 1883 46
Figure 1.2: Outdoor picnic in Caswell County, North Carolina 47
Figure 1.3: Feggen Jones and wife in smokehouse 51
Figure 1.4: Feggen Jones and family at dinner 51
Figure 1.5: Mrs. James Robert Howard and her daughter at supper 54
Figure 1.6: The Howard family supper 55
Figure 3.1: “Soul Food Sundays” banner 119
Figure 4.1: Food products at the Dollar Tree 144
Figure 4.2: SNAP (food stamps) at market 145
Figures 4.3a and 4.3b: Seafood items and halal meats at grocery store 148
Figure 4.4: Walmart sign 188
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EATING WHILE BLACK