How Did Soulfood Influence West African American Culture

Soulfood helps create the opportunity for African Americans to remain in touch with their ancestral roots in both America and West Africa. In recent years the addition of new drinks and dishes in Soul Food such as kool-aid and Mac and Cheese, has a history that can be traced back to their origins in America and West Africa. For instances, Kool Aid was a new refreshing drink that was created in 1927 during the Great Migration, the recipe was originally inspired by, “a line of red beverage stretching back to drinks made with kola nuts in western parts of Africa (Adrian Miller,Soul Food). The significances of Kool-Aid symbolizing drinks made with kola nuts in West Africa is that no matter how much African Americans culture adapted to finding

Today, African Americans have one of the highest leading obesity rates, that “more than two-thirds of the African American community are overweight or obese”(Dr. Tyeese Gaines, thegrio) and soul food is one of the many reasons that contribute to that. Soulfood is a cuisine that really elaborates on flavor and texture. Thus, large amount of spices such as cajun seasoning, which contains high quantities of salt, garlic powder, paprika, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne powder, oregano, thyme, and red pepper are constantly use in many Soulfood dishes and that leads to high blood pressure and can eventually cause heart attacks. Also, many soulfood dishes such as fried chicken are deep fried in lard which is made from rendered fat of a pig to create a crunchy and flavorful texture. Despite, the fact that it will taste delicious, using lard can raise cholesterol and waistlines. Although, for centuries, it has been a tradition that , “soul food has been cooked and seasoned with pork products, and fried dishes are usually cook with hydrogenated vegetable oil and lard… unfortunately, regular consumptions of these ingredients… often contribute to disproportionately high occurrences of obesity, hypertension, cardiac/circulatory problems and diabetes” (African American Registry), it does not mean that these traditional recipes have not change. We have to acknowledge that, Soulfood emerged in a time when African Americans were limited to numerous of ingredients due to financial and social issues. Therefore, being able to obtain whatever ingredients that is not only bountiful but cheap was a easy way for African Americans to essentially gain extra calories to survive on. Often time these ingredients are not the most healthiest options out there. However, times are different now and there is no more need for extra calories since more