The Roots of Soul Food

Board certified in general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry, Dr. Ginari G. Price has over 10 years of experience practicing medicine. In addition to managing a demanding schedule at Psycare, LLC, in Fayetteville, Georgia, Dr. Ginari G. Price enjoys cooking, especially soul food recipes.

At the height of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, “soul food” became popular across the nation. Soul food consists of traditional recipes that have been prepared within the African-American community for hundreds of years. Although the name is relatively new, the food has stood the test of time.

Soul food traditionally consists of basic, inexpensive, locally sourced ingredients that were accessible to the newly freed African Americans after the abolition of slavery. Ingredients that are commonly used in soul food include lard (rendered pork fat), cornmeal, and a wide variety of cuts of pork. Some popular soul food dishes include black-eyed peas, stewed greens, friend chicken, hushpuppies, and cornbread.

More recently, soul food has taken a turn, reflecting the health-conscious trends of the day. “Down Home Healthy” soul food uses lighter ingredients such as margarine instead of lard, turkey instead of pork, and sugar substitutes. Down home recipes return to the vegetarian roots of traditional soul food recipes.