Andrew Coppolino searches for soul food in Waterloo Region

We celebrate this rich culture during the month of February with the food prepared at restaurants here in Waterloo Region, and at the same time this is a good opportunity to recognize the way that food exists in a larger historical context.

It is estimated that between the 15th and 18th centuries, 12 million Africans were captured and sold as slaves in North America.

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What the slaves brought with them, from countries such as Senegal, Nigeria, Guinea and Benin, were ingredients and cooking techniques that have now become part of our culinary culture. 

Key ingredients

There are a number of now-household ingredients that originated in Africa and have now become an important part of North American cuisine. They include: 

• Okra: the slender tubular green vegetable is perhaps one of the most familiar ingredients. It acts as the thickening agent in the popular gumbo, a quintessential stew-like dish of Louisiana. Slaves in the southern United States likely brought okra with them from Senegal where they had been cooking it much earlier in history. Now, the southern U.S. has adopted it as its own.
• Red peas: a central component of the pork dish "Hoppin' John".
• Watermelon.
• Black-eyed peas.
• Sorghum: a grass that is used to make a molasses-like syrup.
• Peanuts: these were not found in America before the 15th century and likely arrived with the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the southern U.S., where they are also known as "goober peas." 
• Rice: there are thousands of varieties of rice consumed in the world which come from two basic families that originated in either China or Africa. The latter was being planted in South Carolina commercially by the 1600s and also came to North America via the slave trade.

Soul food staples

"Soul food" as a concept didn't come into use until the 1960s, but it likely evolved out the "Great Migration" of the early 20th century when African-Americans moved north from their southern homes. When they built restaurants, the food they served — collards, grits, jambalaya, fried chicken and cornbread — eventually came to be called soul food; food that reminded them of their southern homes. 

These dishes are usually now categorized as foods that come from the heart and soul of the chef and restaurant, and which capture the comfort-food past of their ancestors. They also capture the history of entire peoples.

In Waterloo Region, there are several Caribbean restaurants that serve classic dishes like jerk chicken, goat roti, callaloo, ackee and saltfish — using the techniques and ingredients from hundreds of years ago. 

Similarly, Ethiopian restaurants prepare a range of chicken, lamb and beef dishes — which you eat with pieces of injera bread as your utensils — as well as good options for vegetarian fare with dishes like split green peas or lentils in red pepper sauce and spices like berbere, an African blend.

Finding truth through food

Why is the food of Black History Month important? Recognizing the deeper past of these foods and the cultures they grew out of helps us understand and appreciate both the people and their businesses today.

It is an archaeology of sorts that acknowledges the millions of people cruelly torn from their African homes centuries ago, and the foods, techniques and narratives that have subsequently enriched our food culture in North America and Waterloo Region.