I didn't know what "soul food" meant until I just looked it up on Wikipedia. Looking over the list[0], I see a number of things I greatly enjoy, but I'd normally just call it "food", or possibly "Southern food".
I'm from the lower part of California's central valley, which has a distinctly Southern influence due to the dustbowl migration. My town is roughly 40% Hispanic, 45% White, and 5% Pacific Islander, so if the term is only widely used among the black population, it's no wonder I've never heard it.
the term is widely used among the population, not just the black population, in the mid-atlantic up to new york, chicago, and the south.
Sometimes soul food is conflated with Jamaican food (jamaican soul) but for the most part when I think soul food, I think, okra, ham hocks/hambacks, collard and turnip greens, fried chicken, catfish, biscuits, gravy, cornbread, etc. I can't vouch for all the stuff in that wikipedia list, some of it I thought huh?
Since I stopped eating meat except for one day a week, a lot of that has gone out the window.
Comments
I didn't know what "soul food" meant until I just looked it up on Wikipedia. Looking over the list[0], I see a number of things I greatly enjoy, but I'd normally just call it "food", or possibly "Southern food".
I'm from the lower part of California's central valley, which has a distinctly Southern influence due to the dustbowl migration. My town is roughly 40% Hispanic, 45% White, and 5% Pacific Islander, so if the term is only widely used among the black population, it's no wonder I've never heard it.
[0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_soul_food_items
the term is widely used among the population, not just the black population, in the mid-atlantic up to new york, chicago, and the south.
Sometimes soul food is conflated with Jamaican food (jamaican soul) but for the most part when I think soul food, I think, okra, ham hocks/hambacks, collard and turnip greens, fried chicken, catfish, biscuits, gravy, cornbread, etc. I can't vouch for all the stuff in that wikipedia list, some of it I thought huh?
Since I stopped eating meat except for one day a week, a lot of that has gone out the window.