Counting The Days of Kwanzaa: Reinventing Soul Food

The third principle of Kwanzaa is Ujima: Collective Work and Responsibility.

Holiday traditions are handed down from generation to generation, and connect us as a family and community. Kwanzaa is about sharing new traditions with family and friends. In this new age celebrating holidays also means finding ways to come together in a healthy way. Even while celebrating we now have to find ways to address issues like heart disease, diabetes and the mental stress that plague our community. Many of our problems start at the table with the foods we eat. How can we turn the statistics around?

I remember the irreverent quip from Boondocks about the movie Soul Food. “ Then, she (Big Mama) dies from a heart attack or another stroke or somethin'. And what does the family do after she dies? They get together for a Sunday dinner and eat the same food that just killed Big Mama. The *same* food. They didn't learn a lesson, nobody went on a diet, and that's the end of the movie.”

This thought has always bothered me because food especially Soul food has always been the heart of the family and community. There is so much emotion, history and love attached to the food we eat.  Truthfully, soul food can be healthy when prepared right. Traditional soul food consisted of food freshly picked from the garden like beans, corn, okra, greens, yams and watermelon. Author, renown chef and food justice activist  Bryant Terry provides healthy alternatives to the way we prepare soul food in his cookbook, Afro-Vegan.   "In Afro-Vegan, (he) reworks and remixes the favorite staples, ingredients, and classic dishes of the African Diaspora to present more than 100 wholly new, creative culinary combinations that will amaze vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike."  Check out his books for inspiration.

Today be inspired to watch the documentary, Soul Food Junkies and share with family and community.   Soul Food Junkies explores the role food has played in the lives of Black families, raising many questions and offering some alternatives. Hopefully, watching this will start a conversation and an incentive to start creating a healthy lifestyle. We should revamp our favorite family recipes because good health is what we really want to pass down to our next generation.