Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America

458 Pages·2010·3.15 MB·English

by  Frederick Douglass Opie

Hog & Hominy
ARTS & TRADITIONS OF THE TABLE
ARTS & TRADITIONS OF THE TABLE
PERSPECTIVES ON CULINARY HISTORY
Albert Sonnenfeld, Series Editor
Salt: Grain of Life
Pierre Laszlo, translated by Mary Beth Mader
Culture of the Fork
Giovanni Rebora, translated by Albert Sonnenfeld French Gastronomy: The History and
Geography of a Passion
Jean-Robert Pitte, translated by Jody Gladding
Pasta: The Story of a Universal Food
Silvano Serventi and Françoise Sabban, translated by Antony Shugar Slow Food: The Case for
Taste
Carlo Petrini, translated by William McCuaig
Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History
Alberto Capatti and Massimo Montanari, translated by Áine O’Healy British Food: An
Extraordinary Thousand Years of History
Colin Spencer
A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America
James E. McWilliams
Sacred Cow, Mad Cow: A History of Food Fears
Madeleine Ferrières, translated by Jody Gladding Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science
of Flavor
Hervé This, translated by M. B. DeBevoise
Food Is Culture
Massimo Montanari, translated by Albert Sonnenfeld Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of
Cooking
Hervé This, translated by Jody Gladding
Gastropolis: Food and New York City
Edited by Annie Hauck-Lawson and Jonathan Deutsch
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS • NEW YORK
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2008 Columbia University Press All rights reserved
E-ISBN 978-0-231-51797-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Opie, Frederick Douglass.
Hog and hominy : soul food from Africa to America / Frederick Douglass Opie.
p. cm — (Arts and traditions of the table) Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-14638-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-231-14639-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-0-231-51797-3 (e-book) 1. African American cookery—History. 2. African Americans—
Food—History. 3. African Americans—Social life and customs. 4. Cookery, American—Southern
style—History. 5. Cookery—American—History. 6. Food habits—America—History. 7. Blacks—
Food—America—History. 8. Blacks—America—Social life and customs. 9. Cookery, African—
History. 10. Food habits—Africa—History.
I. Title. II. Series
TX715.0548 2008
641.59′296073—DC22 2008020309
A Columbia University Press E-book.
CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at cup-
[email protected].
References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author
nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since
the manuscript was prepared.
DESIGN & TYPESETTING BY vin dang
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO “Super,” the nickname of my paternal
grandfather, Fred Opie, Sr., whom I never met but heard so much about,
as well as to Grandma Opie, whose minced meat and rhubarb pies kept
me happy and full. The book is also dedicated to Luesta Duers, the
gracious matriarch on my mother’s side and my maternal grandmother.
Finally, the book is dedicated to my wife, Tina, and my children, Kennedy
Kwabena and Chase Asabe Opie. Thanks for helping me maintain a
balanced life while I researched and wrote this book over the last seven
years.
Contents
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
INTRODUCTION
1 • THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE AND THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
2 • ADDING TO MY BREAD AND GREENS
Enslaved Cookery in British Colonial America
3 • HOG AND HOMINY
Southern Foodways in the Nineteenth Century
4 • THE GREAT MIGRATION
From the Black Belt to the Freedom Belt
5 • THE BEANS AND GREENS OF NECESSITY
African Americans and the Great Depression
6 • EATING JIM CROW
Restaurants, Barbecue Stands, and Bars and Grills During Segregation
7 • THE CHITLIN CIRCUIT
The Origins and Meanings of Soul and Soul Food
8 • THE DECLINING INFLUENCE OF SOUL FOOD
The Growth of Caribbean Cuisine in Urban Areas
9 • FOOD REBELS
African American Critics and Opponents of Soul Food
EPILOGUE
NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX
Illustrations
1.1 “Dining with Kaffr Chief”
1.2 “The Slave Deck of the Bark ‘Wildfire’”
2.1 “A Representation of the Sugar-Cane and the Art of Making Sugar”
3.1 “Sweet Potatoe Planting—James Hopkinson’s Plantation.”
3.2 African American army cook at work in City Point, Virginia.
3.3 Old African American couple eating at the table by fireplace
3.4 Ten African American women in cooking class at Hampton Institute
4.1 Negro tenant farmer eating breakfast in Creek County, Oklahoma
4.2 Fred Opie, Sr.; Jane Dimmie and Lucy Dimmie Opie
4.3 Cooking fried supper for a benefit picnic
5.1 Unemployed men in front of Al Capone’s soup kitchen
5.2 Federal food surplus distribution in Cleveland, Ohio
5.3 Cook at Father Divine Mission, Harlem
5.4 U.S. government pork being distributed to jobless residents in New
York City
6.1 African American sitting on bench at side of barbecue stand
6.2 Barbecue stand, Fort Benning, Columbus, Ga.
6.3 “Hot Fish”: Bryant’s Place, Memphis, Tenn.
6.4 “White” and “Colored,” Durham, N.C.
7.1 Negro bunkhouse, Childersburg, Ala.
7.2 Negro café, Washington, D.C.
8.1 1950 map of the streets occupied by blacks and Latinos in the
Tarrytowns
9.1 World heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, right, with
Black Muslim leader Malcolm X, New York City, March 1, 1964
9.2 Comedian Dick Gregory speaking at the University of South Florida,
April 14, 1971
10.1 A Sunday morning at M & G Diner on West 125th Street, Harlem,
New York
10.2 Manna’s Buffet and Catering Service, Harlem