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

by Herbert C. Covey, Dwight Eisnach

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, including Cajun, Creole, and what later became known as soul food, drawing on the recollections of ex-slaves recorded by Works Progress Administration interviewers. Valuable for its fascinating look into the very core of slave life, this book makes a unique contribution to our knowledge of slave culture and of the complex power relations encoded in both owners' manipulation of food as a method of slave control and slaves' efforts to evade and undermine that control.--While a number of scholars have discussed slaves and their foods, slave foodways remains a relatively unexplored topic. The authors' findings also augment existing knowledge about slave nutrition while documenting new information about slave diets.

Genres: History, Food

311 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well-researched primer on the diets of antebellum enslaved African Americans. The authors lean heavily on WPA slave narratives to examine the types of food provided to enslaved people and how they utilized them. They also discuss where most of the food originated, concentrating on connecting many of the foods to their West African heritage. The authors discuss nutrition and cooking methods and devote chapters to specific food categories, including vegetables, meat, wild game and fish, dairy, grains/cereals/baked goods, and fruits/nuts/coffee. One chapter discusses the various celebrations and special occasions in which food and food preparation was an important element. Several appendixes detail the specific WPA narratives that were utilized for each food category.

This is a very good reference book for anyone researching African American foodways. There are some recipes included throughout that are pulled either from the narratives or period cookbooks.

[Daniel Block · Rating 5 out of 5]

For thesis. Really good explanation of the diversity of foodstuffs consumed by enslaved people. I understand the point of the book is to exploit evidence in WPA narratives, but I do wish it referred to slave narratives written by people who were adults (or at least not children) during slavery. Other than that, really great research.