It is a well-known fact: Food just tastes better in the South.
Why this is was explained during the Museum of the Mississippi Delta’s event “Why We Call It Soul Food.”
“Grits are going to taste a lot different in Chicago than they do here,” Dr. Brinda Willis, a doctor of theology and Southern expert, said during a lecture at the event Thursday.
Willis spoke about the history, recipes and culture of soul food at the Viking Cooking School as a part of the museum’s ongoing exhibit “Crossroads: Change in Rural America.”
The show, which opened Friday at the museum on U.S. 82, examines the evolving landscape of rural America and is put on in partnership with the Smithsonian Institute.
The exhibition will be on view through June 25.
To further explain the culture of food in the Southern and rural parts of America, the museum invited Willis to present a lecture and tasting of soul food, or food that is traditionally served in Black and Southern communities.
“It is important to know about soul food, because it’s like knowing your own history,” Willis said to listeners who appeared eager to learn.
As she spoke, Loren Leflore, an instructor with the Cooking School, prepared and served a sampling of traditional Southern food including fried chicken, collard greens, cornbread and deviled eggs.
Meanwhile, Willis discussed certain traditions of Southern cuisine.
“We’re in the Cooking School now, so you have to eat with a fork and knife, but in my house, it’s with your hands,” she said with a laugh as the crowd practiced proper etiquette.
She said that Sunday was normally the day her family had chicken, while “you have fish fries on Friday because that comes from the Catholic tradition” that she said has spread to the whole South.
Willis combined humor, history and personal stories about growing up in Kosciusko with a large family and described how food played a key role in a sense of community.
She added a reason for the establishment of much traditional food comes from sharecroppers and their families using what was easily available to them: “We didn’t have all the ingredients all the time.”
She explained this with the different hot sauces used for extra seasoning.
“For the African American community, we put hot sauce on our chicken,” she said, adding that it is common now to use Louisiana Hot Sauce. “But, for collard greens, we would normally do pepper sauce because it was cheaper and easier to make.”
She said food often had to be “stretched to feed a lot of people.”
“Spaghetti became a side because it is cheap and can feed 16 people,” she said after the museum’s executive director, Katie Mills, asked how that became a staple side in the South.
But, all in all, Willis said it was the meaning behind and the preparation of soul food that earned it its name.
“It’s called soul food because that’s where it comes from, the soul,” she said. “The name comes from the caring and time it takes to make the food.”
She added that the meaning of the term “soul food” changes slightly from region to region; in the Delta, it may mean fried chicken and catfish, but in Louisiana, it may mean gumbo. Either way, Willis said, true soul food won’t be found in any cookbook but rather will be passed down orally from elder family members to younger ones.
“If you have some of those recipes, write them down, because the Viking school will pay you for them,” she joked.
Willis, who also has experience working in social services, said food can make a huge difference for communities. “If you want your children to behave better, have a meal together at the table,” she said. “It makes a difference.”
After the talk, attendee Tracy Shelton said she enjoyed learning about the traditions and “going back down memory lane.” Shelton said, “I loved reminiscing about growing up, and we really had a lot of similarities, me and her,” referring to Willis.
The lunch and lecture eventually became conversational, with many discussing the different ways their families cooked the various foods.
For example, Willis said she always made her vegetables in a big soup pot, while Leflore showed a different technique using a saucepan.
“I enjoyed all of it,” said Paulette Palmer, an audience member and museum volunteer. “I also loved learning a new way to try and cook greens.”
But before all of this, during one of the more poignant moments, Willis led grace with a classic prayer.
“God is great, God is good. Let us thank him for our food. By his hands, we are fed. Give us Lord our daily bread. Amen,” the crowd prayed in unison.
“See, we were all pretty much raised the same way; Black, white, it doesn’t matter,” Willis said. “The culture reaches so many different sections. ... There are some nuisances, but it is all pretty much the same.”
-Contact Adam Bakst at 581-7233 or abakst@gwcommonwealth.com. On Twitter at @AdamBakst_GWCW.
