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

328 Pages·2009·1.98 MB·English

by  Dwight Eisnach

WHAT THE SLAVES ATE
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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
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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