On Soul Food..

I love butter, eggs, fried chicken, chocolate, sweet potato pie, Kool-aid, red soda etc. BUT my goodness...African Americans love this stuff and it is killing us faster than one could say cornbread! I love this stuff but I had to stop eating it because it is killing me and other blacks from the inside out. The Soul Food that we eat is the left over "slop" that we put together because we ate what the white man threw out in slavery days. (Why do we cling on to things that tied us to our bondage anyway?) The white man probably threw out the leftover parts because it's bad for you. Now...we eat and celebrate this food and wonder why we have the highest rate of illnesses associated with obesity. I am overwieght but not for long. My mind has been renewed and I can no longer disrespect my body with the stuff we call "soul food". I will honor my ancestors but I will modify the food to fit my new healthy lifestyle. Then again..why eat it at all when is what we ate as slaves? We are no longer slaves. Why should we eat as such?

Tell me what you think.

yes, black people in general are too overweight.

Yes, I have been told that foods such as blackpudding have come about because we were given the leftovers to eat during slavery.

Blackpudding is just blood with a little bread and some seasoning thrown in, especially pepper. That's what was left over for us after they ate the meat: blood and guts.

I suppose the same goes for '' back 'n' neck '', the left over bones and why so many West Indians like to chew their bones which I do too.

I will have to agree....it's not fair that the foods that we like(love) are just NOT GOOD FOR YOU! As much as I love the HOMEMADE Mac and Cheese, Candied yams, iced tea, etc., those food are a BIG cause of the obesity problem. It's not a problem if one eats this in moderation, however many don't and on top of that many do not exercise enough to even get their blood pumping!

No one is saying to quit "soul food" altogether, but there must be a level to where things must be cut in half, or some things taken out altogether. Just because one does not eat "soul food" does not make them "less black", they just understand that many of the foods that they eat are really not good for them!

I know there is a message in these post but damn they make me laugh. I have never eaten back n neck what the heck is that LOL.....and Kool aid ain't that the coloured chemical powder mix you add to sugar (and not the other way round) LOL.....people take it one step further and face the facts obesity has risen in line with Americas influence across the globe. Look at Asia take countries such as China and Hong Kong which had a history of petit framed people......they are turning their back on their traditional foods for the taste of McCr*p and Funktucky.

I am not excusing anything because I know it will only get worst but America needs more quality control to safeguard the crap that is allowed to go on the shelves in their supermarkets and sold to consumers and unfortunately this shyte is being exported into Africa and the Caribbean effecting our people. Also its not only down to the food being ate people are generally more lazy and do less activities to burn of calories.

Britian has followed the junk food crazy introduced by America.

Btw eating black pudding thats going toooo far eating pigs blood.....forget it you are too far gone might as well stick with the fat ridden soul food. LOL.

Well I have learnt something from this thread...I had 'blackpudding' down for a white working class food, particularly Northern, along with tripe, cow foot, oxtail and dripping.

Slave food, Poor peoples food, cultures aside what's the difference?

DCDC wrote:
I agree totally. Thanks for your response

Ladyday wrote:

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Interesting point. Thanks for the post

Mafdet wrote:

You know there is actually a conspiracy surrounding the food industry stating that they may be putting ingredients in it to make it addictive! That is why I am switching to organic foods because all that added stuff is the killer! Also...kool-aid is a flavor, sugar and water...it's the sugar that makes it bad...I mean...people put loads of sugar in that stuff! It taste good but it's bad for you!
Thanks for the post.

TahlibaBiko wrote:
Well, the difference is all those additives in the food we now eat, overhere. My goodness, all the butter, grease and fried foods is crazy when you think about it. Gravy, and whatever else we put on food. Fried Chicken is soul food but is was not slave food. It was invented in the 50's. Well, the food I was raised to love and appreciate...my momma's "Soul food" and supersized servings of it, is bad for me. I still love it but I have replaced the fattening things with healthier choices ie, baking chicken instead of frying it etc.
Thanks for your post

I didn't mean the difference in the food

blaqguh wrote:
clp) in recognition of your renewing of the mind with regard to your diet.

My view on this is that our food is so seasoned in the first place because it 'hid' the fact, during slavery days, that it was stale and abominable. We have taken what is good from that experience and added our culinary creative skills to more healthier and tasty dishes.

I know some people who won't give up the boiled dumplins, water and flour. What is that aboutconfused3

In my own mind, I think part of it is keeping up with tradition; it reminds of us where we have come from and to not forget what our ancestors went through in order that we might be alive today.

There is also the addictiveness of the number one poison - sugar - that is permeates practically all pre-prepared foods, even if it is raw meat such as pork.

Each time I have visited Florida, I noticed how much choice there was on the shelves when it came to pre-prepared food and how little for fresh. The fresh food was far more expensive than the pre-prepared and the imposter orange juice was sitting in the fridge (why?) with the natural juices.

BTW, I noticed that in Barbados, there isn't one McD's. The reason being that they don't do fried chicken. So there is KFC!!