So its Tisha B'Av, and I decided that it was finally time to start a blog about my relationship with food. Backup, Tisha B'Av is a Jewish holy day commemorating the double destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians and Romans. And as intimidated as I am by this process, I probably couldn't have picked a better time to begin writing. According to Jewish tradition, Tisha B'Av is the saddest day of the year and as soon as its over we realize that something outrageously good was born on that day--in people, of people--maybe even the Moshiach. But you didn't come here to read about my Judaism, you came to find out why my plate is haunted and who the hell do I think I am to add anything to the--pardon the expression--bloated world of food writing.
First surprise, I'm Black...and Jewish--and yes I converted--Orthodox (Sephardic)...and I'm a Hebrew s. According to a few sets of family lore we have Jewish ancestry, but I'm a long way away from proving that. I'm fascinated by identity, history, symbolism, myth, community, peoplehood, and what all of that has to do with food. I'm officially part of two food Diasporas--African and Jewish-- that are all over the globe--and every food world they touch...and if you throw in the quarts and gallons of Native American and European ancestry my world just got that much larger. Im essentially everybody and essentially nobody foodwise...I drool and marvel over the people of the Meditteranean who can call back to Greeks, Romans, Cretans, Etruscans, Phonecians, Egyptians and the like and make and eat a dish that connects them to every generation that ever ate it.
Second surprise, I'm writing about the origins of African American foodways and its connection to other food cultures, starting with West and Central Africa moving into slavery...but the catch is that for the past few years I've gone from dusty account books and records to actually interpreting slavery and enslaved people's lives in the flesh. I'm probably the only African American alive who actually wants to pick cotton, stick tobacco, thresh rice and make hoecakes and collards over an open fire, and as this blog progresses you'll see why. If enslaved people grew it, I try to grow it, if they cooked it, I try to make it the same way and eat it--and when I can't I give it to you to eat...I've even butchered a hog the colonial way and cleaned fish from a creek using a deer jaw....we'll talk...I believe in living their experiences to understand the whole picture--how they did it, why they did it, how power played a role in their lives, and why we should even care at all today... Every day of my life I dine at the haunted plate acknowledging that a second in the lives of my enslaved ancestors was worse than anything I could imagine--and whatever was on that plate gave them the strength to get me here. This is a no b.s. blog---
Third surprise, I'm ready to start fighting back. Being the HNIC of enslaved foodways has not won me a pass...a lot of people have given me smack for what I do--and not because of I love history enough to impersonate it...I rarely get backtalk from blackfolk...If you'll kindly notice, very few Southern plantation museums and living history farms have a majority Black interpretive staff even though that's who actually worked there! Furthermore world of Southern food writing is sadly bereft of Black voices--new Black voices and trips to the farmers markets of Megalopolis have yielded almost no Black presence. I'm a challenge to an approach to history that has been owned longer than my ancestors were. I believe anybody any everybody can tell this story, but I reserve a right to have some ownership because this is my heritage and I have a responsibility to pass it on--in a scholarly manner that is consistent with what I feel in my soul. I'm ready for battle.
And child, if I hear somebody say one more time that Black food and white food are one in the same, especially when we was po'...(We'll get to that...) I'm going to scream. This is about...Where are we? What can I do to get us to "represent" when it comes to our food? Or better yet, what can I do to get the "mainstream," to let more of us the hell in? I just decided that I've picked just enough cotton to justify being able to say I'm a grown ass man entitled to my intellectual opinion despite the fact that some parties out there are more than happy to note that a significant brainy Black foodie presence has not arisen. Too bad, these are the Obama years, we're going to get our vittles while the gettin' is good....
Fourth surprise--Yeah we're going to talk about food--a lot. And process, and provisioning the table and all that....But I have a developing approach to food that I'm trying to bring to light. Just as we can't run away from slavery and its influence, we can't run away from our food history, nor should we. I'm here for culinary Sankofa--the Akan idea that we reach back to bring something from the past that can help us in the future. That's what it's all about. You will see things about my ancestors here, becuase without them I wouldn't have the chains off my hands to type--or read--or write--or live...
Fifth surprise--I'm going to launch a blog for another effort of mine--Kosher Soul---which is related to what I'm talking about here but really deals with my culinary attempt to find a unified self--as an African American and as a Jew through food...
So that's why I'm doing this...I already established a website--www.afrofoodways.com---which unfortunately has become a web-seum to the last time I actually updated it--that's going to change. I kinda got caught up in the fact that yeah--a website is a website--and a blog is a blog--this is where you keep a running record of your insights and what irks you. A website is where you shamelessly promote yourself and your products....Duh! So now I hope I'm on the right track...
Happy---Errr..Solemn..Tisha B'Av to you--I wish you an easy fast, because tomorrow I'm going to be HUNGRY.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
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