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What the Slaves Ate: Recollections of African American Foods and Foodways from the Slave Narratives PDF

328 Pages·2009·1.98 MB·English
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WHAT THE SLAVES ATE This page intentionally left blank WHAT THE SLAVES ATE Recollections of African American Foods and Foodways from the Slave Narratives HERBERT C. COVEY AND DWIGHT EISNACH GREENWOODPRESS AnImprintofABC-CLIO,LLC (cid:1) (cid:1) SantaBarbara,California Denver,Colorado Oxford,England Copyright2009byHerbertC.CoveyandDwightEisnach Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrieval system,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical, photocopying,recording,orotherwise,exceptfortheinclusionofbriefquotationsina review,withoutpriorpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Covey,HerbertC. Whattheslavesate:recollectionsofAfricanAmericanfoodsandfoodwaysfromthe slavenarratives/HerbertC.CoveyandDwightEisnach. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978–0–313–37497–5(hardcopy:alk.paper)—ISBN978–0–313–37498–2 (ebook) 1.Slaves—Diet—UnitedStates—History. 2.AfricanAmericans—Food—History. 3.AfricanAmericancookery—History. 4.Food—Socialaspects—UnitedStates— History. 5.Cookery,American—Southernstyle—History. 6.Slave narratives—UnitedStates. I.Eisnach,Dwight. II.Title. E443.C73 2009 390(cid:1).25—dc22 2009003907 13 12 11 10 09 1 2 3 4 5 ThisbookisalsoavailableontheWorldWideWebasaneBook. Visitwww.abc-clio.comfordetails. ABC-CLIO,LLC 130CremonaDrive,P.O.Box1911 SantaBarbara,California93116-1911 ∞∞ Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica Thepublisherhasdoneitsbesttomakesuretheinstructionsand/orrecipesinthisbookare correct.However,usersshouldapplyjudgmentandexperiencewhenpreparingrecipes, especiallyparentsandteachersworkingwithyoungpeople.Thepublisheracceptsno responsibilityfortheoutcomeofanyrecipeincludedinthisvolume. CONTENTS Preface vii Acknowledgments xiii 1. TheWPANarrativesandSlaveDiets 1 2. SlaveNutrition 10 3. AfricanRootsandFoodTraditions 39 4. SlaveCookingandMeals 51 5. Vegetables 73 6. Meat 95 7. WildGameandFish 113 8. Dairy 135 9. Grains,Cereals,andBakedGoods 144 10. Fruits,Nuts,andCoffee 167 11. Celebrations,SpecialOccasions,andtheWar 184 12. ClosingObservations 209 APPENDICES:FOODSIDENTIFIEDINTHEWPANARRATIVES 215 AppendixA:Vegetables 217 AppendixB:Meats 231 AppendixC:WildGame:Birds 244 vi Contents AppendixD:WildGame:Fish/Shellfish 247 AppendixE:WildGame:ReptilesandAmphibians 250 AppendixF:WildGame:Mammals 251 AppendixG:Dairy 257 AppendixH:Grains 262 AppendixI:BakedGoods 265 AppendixJ:Fruit 275 AppendixK:Nuts 280 AppendixL:Sugar/Molasses/Spices 282 AppendixM:Beverages 288 AppendixN:GeneralorUnclear 297 Bibliography 299 Index 307 PREFACE Much has been written over the years about the complex social, economic, and political outcomes of the institution of slavery in the United States. Authors have explored, frommyriadperspectives,thesocialandculturalupheaval causedbythis tragic chapter in our country’s history. Although there is a considerable literature onwhatslavesateandhowtheysurvived,mostofwhathasbeenwrittenhasbeen based on second- or third-hand accounts, archaeological evidence, and research of extantdocumentsofthetimes,suchasslaveshiplogs,plantationrationinglogs,and manualsonthetreatmentofslaves. Surprisingly,preciouslittlehasbeenwrittenusingthefirst-personaccountsofthe slavesthemselvestotellthestoryofhowtheysubsistedunderslavery.Infact,not onlydidtheysubsist,theycreatedflavorfulandnutritiousdishesbysupplementing rations of poor-quality food and leftover scraps with their own enterprise, drawing ontherichAfricanandCaribbeantraditionsofpeppersandspices. PurposeoftheBook This book focuses on a single but complex aspect of slavery, that of food. It highlights some of the ways that food related to slave culture; how it was used to control,punish,andrewardslavesandhowitwasrationed;andhowAfricanAmerican slavefoodsevolvedintothediversearrayofsouthern-influenceddishes,takinginto consideration regional differences and other ethnic and national influences (Native American,French,andSpanish)aswell. Webeganthisprojectnearlythreeyearsagowithwhat,atthetime,wethought wouldbethesimplenotionofutilizingtheWorksProgressAdministration’s(WPA) Federal Writers’Project of the 1930s as the foundational base for studying African American slave foodways of the Antebellum period. Despite their flaws and bi- ases, which are detailed in Chapter 1 the WPA slave narratives are neverthe- less a rich source of first-person accounts of life under slavery, including details viii Preface about food, cooking, and recipes, by the people who lived through this period in history. TheWriters’ProjecthiredunemployedwritersduringtheGreatDepressionand fanned them out across seventeen states, mostly in the South, assigning them to interview2,200formerslaves.Theproject’sgoalwastocaptureawrittenhistoryof their lives before the opportunity was lost. The resulting interviews created a rich tapestry of history told by those who lived through a part of this turbulent time. Manyscholarshavesinceusedpartsofthenarrativestotellstoriesaboutslavelife, buttoourknowledge,noonehasfocusedsolelyonthenarrativesinacomprehensive and systematic way for the sole purpose of probing into the foodways of slaves, including diet, nutrition, rations available, and the control issues between owners andslavesthatcenteredonfood. Astheprojectunfolded,werealizedthatthenarrativesaloneprovidedinsufficient evidencefromwhichtomakevalidassumptionsaboutwhatslavesateandhowthey prepared,stored,andcookedtheirfood.Aswithallgoodscholarship,itwasnecessary to seek other sources to corroborate our observations. As a result, more than three hundred other literary sources, periodical articles, and other media resources were addedtoourresearch.Althoughtheprojectbeganwithsimplerpurposesinmind,it begantotakeonalifeofitsownasweprogressed—takingusonajourneybackto precolonialWestAfricatofindtherootsofsomeofthemosthistoricandimportant foods,cookingtechniques,andagriculturalmethodsthatmadethevoyagetotheNew Worldwithslaves.Italsoevolvedintoareviewofsomeofthecomplexrelationships between owners and slaves over the control and rationing of food and its role in maintaining the dominance of one race over another. Some of our preconceived notionsoftheimpactofslaveryonAfricanAmericanfoodwayswerevalidatedbythe research.Manyothersfellbythewayside,including,forexample,thenotionthatall slavesweretreatedinmoreorlessthesamewayandhadessentiallythesamediet. Asourresearchshowed,treatmentofslavesvariedbyregionandevenbyindividual plantation,andtherewastremendousvarianceamongslavesastowhatfoodswere availabletothem. TheWPAnarratives,selectedearliernarratives(autobiographies),andotherpri- maryandsecondarysourceswerereviewedforreferencestomeals,food,diet,recipes, socialrelationshipsconstructedaroundfood,foodpreparation,rations,andotherre- lated terms. The WPA narratives provide first-person accounts of food and diet for theperiod.Ourobjectivesforthereviewweretodeterminewhatfoodswereavail- able, gathered, and prepared and the manner of their consumption. Emphasis was placed on who spoke about foods, what foods were identified, and when and how foods were referenced. Much of the information presented stems from direct quo- tations from the WPA narratives, but a few earlier non-WPA narratives are also incorporated. Itisimpossibletouncovereverypossiblefoodorrecipepreparedandconsumedby slaves.Wedonotpretendtohavedonesoorclaimtohavecompletedacomprehensive studyofslavefoodsandfoodways.Wedonotclaimtohaveidentifiedallofthefoods consumed by slaves. What we did attempt to do was to compile a list of foods and relatedrecollectionsthatseemtohavestuckinthememoriesofthosewholivedunder slavery. These memories were so entrenched that more than sixty-five years after emancipation, the WPA respondents sometimes could recall them in great detail. It is this detail we focused on with an eye to discovering previously unexplored insights. Preface ix Organization The opening chapters of the book set the stage for examining African American slavefoodwaysbyfirstlookingattheissuesoffoodascontrol,thenutritionrequired tokeepfieldhandsreasonablyhealthy,thebenefitsandlimitationsofthenarratives andothersimilardocumentsassources,andtheancestralhistoryofnativeAfrican foods and spices. It then seemed a natural and easily understood process to com- partmentalize the important food groups of slaves, as told through the narratives, intomajorgroupings:vegetables,domesticmeat,wildgame,dairy,grainsandbaked goods,andfruitsandnuts.Chaptersaredevotedtoeachofthesegeneralfoodgroups. Illuminating insights into the management/labor relationships between slaves and owners mediated through food can be found in Chapter 11, which examines celebrationsandspecialoccasions,whichwereoftenatimeforrelaxingtheotherwise strictlyobservedsocialboundariesbetweenwhitesandAfricanAmericans.TheCivil Waryearsandtheirimpactonslavefoodwaysandtheintrusionofsoldiersfromthe NorthandSouthintoplantationlifearealsofeaturedinthischapter. Thefinalchaptersummarizesourgeneralconclusionsandlinksthemtocontem- porary dietary practices of African Americans. Although this book uncovers much aboutwhatex-slaveshadtosayabouttheirfoods,foodpreparation,andcorrespond- ingrelationshipsaroundbothintheplantationSouth,itisclearatthisjuncturethat wehaveonlyscratchedthesurfaceofthiscomplextopic. Theappendicesatthebackofthebookweregleanedfromresearchingall2,200of thenarrativeinterviewsanddocumenteveryfoodordishmentioned.Theappendices confirm that slaves had access to more than three hundred different foodstuffs or dishes from various sources, including their own enterprise gardens, wild game, domestic livestock, and rations from owners, although there was little variety and sometimeslittlequantityfromrations. Withoutquestion,slavesateotherfoodsnotidentifiedinthenarratives.Itwould bewrongtoconcludethatslaveshadarichdietthatincorporatedallofthesefoods; theyreliedheavilyonporkandcorn.However,itwouldalsobeincorrecttoconclude thattheirdietswerelimitedonlytothesetwocommonfooditems,forthenarratives and other sources indicate that slaves were very resourceful in taking advantage of whatwasavailabletothem.Itwouldbemoreaccuratetoconcludethatslaves,when theycould,turnedtotheforests,streams,gardens,andtheirownmeanstosurvive andmakethemostoftheseresources. SlaveRecipes Thisstudyincludesselectedslaverecipesfromthenarratives.Inhisgeneralhistory ofcooking,TheAmericanHistoryCookbook(2003),MarkH.Zangernotedthatslave cooksonplantationswouldhavebeenfamiliarwithmanyoftheprintedrecipesfound onsouthernplantationsbecausetheycookedinthekitchensoftheirowners.White mistressesandotherswouldreadtherecipesforthemtofollow.Likewise,asZanger and others have noted, some of the slaves’ recipes were eventually included in the plantationcookbooks,althoughauthorswereknownnottoacknowledgethecooks’ slaveorigins.Thesesouthernandplantationcookbooksdoincluderecipesthatcanbe attributedtoslavecooksandslavefoodways. Afteremancipation,someex-slaveseventuallypublishedtheirowncookbooksin the decades following the Civil War. Among them was Mrs. Abby Fisher (a likely

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Carefully documenting African American slave foods, this book reveals that slaves actively developed their own foodways-their customs involving family and food. The authors connect African foods and food preparation to the development during slavery of Southern cuisines having African influences, in
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