To uplift and acknowledge Black culture, the Kelley School of Business and the Neal Marshall Culture Center hosted Food is Freedom on February 28, with students and faculty, discussing the connection between Soul Food and Africa. To give insight on the history of Soul Food, Chef Tweet an IU Alum, led the conversation with Dr. Gloria Howell, Director of Neal Marshall Center.
Before expounding on the connection of Africa and Soul Food, Chef Tweet discussed her personal connection to food stemming from her family.
“Some people have all these love languages, but food is my love language. My dad was always taking me to new restaurants to try new things even when I didn’t want to, that gave me an adventurous side of loving food. I believe I developed my grandmother’s palette so I can taste anything and then go home and make it. If you look at my websites it says God first, family and then food. That’s what my family is about and that’s what I’ve always been about.”
In America, Soul Food is an ethnic cuisine in the African American community.Dishes like sweet potatoes, macaroni, fried chicken, greens and corn bread are a historical staple in the Black community during Sunday dinners and Thanksgiving. Although many traditions during the Atlantic Slave Trade were erased, the slaves held on to as much culture as they could, bringing various foods to the Americas in clever ways.
When asked what connects Soul Food to Africa Chef Tweet said, “A lot of the foods that we now enjoy in America actually came from Africa, like the rice tray is a billion-dollar industry because the rice came from Africa. The slaves would hold it in their hands, while they were on the slave ship, they would hold the black eyed peas in their hands just to sustain them once they got through the voyage. So a lot of those things came from Africa the sweet potato, the yam, and gold rice.”
Chef Tweet also mentioned that the slaves would hold seeds in their hands planting what was once grown in their homeland in America.
“They also carried seeds in their hands as well when they made the voyage. Once they got to the plantation and if they were allowed to have a garden they would plant those seeds and that’s how we have greens, and other foods because we didn’t have that in America. When it comes to Soul Food we have to credit most of it to the slaves, said Chef Tweet.
Those in attendance were able to get a taste of Soul Food prepared by Chef Tweet.This was an opportunity for students of various cultural backgrounds to add something new to their pallet. Aung Han, a sophomore at IU found out about the event through a friend which sparked his curiosity, in trying Soul Food for the first time.
“My friend told me about this when we were heading to an event. He told me it was about Soul Food and I’ve always been interested in food. I got a sneak peak into Soul Food that I never knew before. Having an Asian background it is nice knowing another side of the world. I loved it,” said Han.