A Special Cultural Holiday

Ironically historians have proven the slaves ate a healthier diet than the slave masters judging by today's health standards. The slave masters and overseers stuffed themselves with foods excessively high in fat, calories and washed it down with rich alcohol. This rich diet, considered a rich man's diet, and like today often resulted in heart disease, obesity and diabetes Chinese vegetarian cuisine recipes.

But as irony would have it the slaves had to settle for the food and ingredients the rich slave mater discarded. For example, cheap and often discarded vegetables, fruits, nuts and only had water to wash it down. In fact, the only times the slaves ate meat was usually on special occasions such as Christmas (provided they behaved during the week).

Today African Americans celebrate with soul food, especially during the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years holidays. The cooks and wanna-be cooks come out in every Black household during these holidays.

Kwanzaa, a special cultural holiday celebrated by many African Americans, developed in the 1960's as a period for African Americans to reflect on their history and future contributions. The period of Kwanzaa runs from December 26 to January 1.

A traditional Kwanzaa feast held on December 31 and consist of traditional soul food dishes. These soul food dishes include seafood gumbo, black-eye peas, collard greens, buttermilk cornbread, sweet potato pie, peach cobbler, fried okra and more. Some traditions say these ingredients help bring the participants good fortune in the coming year.

Like any valuable idea, soul food has been able to reinvent itself and adapt to changing times and conditions.

Long criticized for it's unhealthy ingredients, such as the excessive use of fats, salt and unhealthy cooking techniques and ingredients.