Black History Month Food

Fried chicken is a classic soul food dish.

Paying tribute to African-American historical figures can be both educational and tasty with a Black History Month meal. Black History Month is celebrated every February to honor notable achievements from African Americans. Contemporary African-American cuisine, known as soul food, originated from the recipes of the slavery era and adapted as African-Americans plights' changed. Whip up a delicious menu to round out a Black History Month celebration.

Main Dishes

Choose some main dishes for your Black History Month menu. Slaves often ate wild game, such as squirrel and possum, and cooked with the undesirable animal parts the slave owners didn't want, like pigs' feet and intestines. Focusing your main dishes on more contemporary soul food will be much more crowd-pleasing. Make or order a batch of fried chicken, fish or pork chops. If you prefer not to fry, get some barbecued ribs or chicken instead. For vegetarian soul food options, prepare macaroni and cheese or spaghetti with a meatless tomato sauce.

Vegetables

Honor the cuisine of the slave era with side dishes inspired by African-American ancestors. Vegetable dishes from that time period used crops from the southern United States. Boil collard greens with ham for a common soul food dish that originated in Africa. Make a dish of boiled black eyed peas or butter beans, two crops that made up many slave-era dishes. For a Southern flair, boil red beans and mix with cooked rice for traditional red beans and rice. Add a contemporary soul food twist by preparing mashed potatoes and gravy for those who don't like the traditional options.

Breads

Include plenty of cornbread and biscuits to serve with your Black History Month menu. After African Americans were released from slavery, they didn't have many means to easily provide for themselves, so every scrap of food had to count. Bread was used to soak up leftover drippings, soups or gravies to make every meal stretch. Contemporary soul food takes inspiration from that era, so dishes are almost always served with bread.

Desserts

Round out the menu with desserts. Sweet potatoes were easily grown in the southern United States, so slaves often included them in meals. Pay homage to those ancestors by including a sweet potato pie on the menu. Soul food has many other dessert options you can choose from as well. Many soul food dishes are similar to Southern dishes, since that's where slavery occurred, so you can include Southern classics like pecan pie, peach cobbler and banana pudding.

Condiments

Serve your Black History Month food with some soul food condiments. Get bottles of red hot sauce so diners can add a few drops to their dishes. Purchase or make chow chow relish, a mixture of pickled vegetables such as corn, tomatoes or okra. Serve the relish with spoons so people can top their vegetables with the mixture.

References

• African-American Registry
• Soul Food Online
• Black History Menus