What is Soul Food?

Soul food is a common term in the current world we live in. But 100 years ago, mention “soul food” to anyone, and you would probably get a blank look on their faces. You see, soul food is a term for anything that makes us feel warm and fuzzy and good, inside. But more often than not, soul food has come to mean the distinctive cooking hailing from the American Deep South, which was developed by the early African slaves who toiled in the plantations in the early days of American history.

Soul food only began to be related to Southern cooking in people’s minds, following the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. It was wholeheartedly adopted as one of the foods that defined the African Americans, and since then, soul food has grown in popularity in leaps and bounds. Now, you can find soul food restaurants in just about any city in America, and also in many cities outside America, underlining its popularity.

Why is soul food popular? Well, it is delicious and heartening. And just like its figurative counterpart, soul food warms the soul if eaten in the company of friends, family, and loved ones. It is the perfect meal for a Thanksgiving dinner. With so many recipes having been developed over the years, you may be amazed to find that there are soul food “equivalents,” to just about any food you know of. You can find soul food recipes based on so many popular dishes, that if you’re a cook, it will keep you busy for years and years to come!

Blended with that Southern cooking “touch,” soul food is one of the defining foods of USA, and its classical appeal, spiced these days with many new developed recipes - will keep it going strong for a long. long time to come.