Product Description

Ranging from seventeenth-century West African fare to contemporary fusion dishes using soul food ingredients, the essays in this book provide an introduction to many aspects of African American foodways and an antidote to popular misconceptions about soul food. Examining the combination of African, Caribbean, and South American traditions, the volume's contributors offer lively insights from history, literature, sociology, anthropology, and African American studies to demonstrate how food's material and symbolic values have contributed to African Americans' identity for centuries. Individual chapters examine how African foodways survived the passage into slavery, cultural meanings associated with African American foodways, and the contents of African American cookbooks, both early and recent. Contributors are Anne L. Bower, Robert L. Hall, William C. Whit, Psyche Williams-Forson, Doris Witt, Anne Yentsch, Rafia Zafar.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2412070 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Review
"Bower's reputation in the study of African American foodways is already very significant, and this achievement will only add to it. With subjects ranging from soul food to cookbooks, the writers in this volume will change our thinking about African American food and culture." --Sherrie A. Inness, author of Secret Ingredients: Race, Gender, and Class at the Dinner Table