By Tisa Conway-Cunningham
Sugar. Coffee. Rice. Okra. Sorghum. To acknowledge these simple ingredients relative to the American culinary experience is to understand that their stories coincide with that of the people they traveled to America with over 500 years ago.
Okra. Ngombo. Gumbo. Believed to be native to East Africa, traveled to the Americas through the transatlantic slave trade. There are stories of mothers braiding okra seeds into their and their daughter’s hair so that when they reached their destination, no matter how foreign, they would be able to grow something familiar — a taste of home. Okra can be traced from West Africa, through southern America, Louisiana, to the Carolinas, Kentucky, and even being grown as far north as Pennsylvania.
Burgoo. Gumbo. Okra stew. A key ingredient in each of these hearty stews, okra. Follow the ingredient. Find the story. While there is no recorded evidence, burgoo is believed to have originated from enslaved persons and/or indigenous Americans. It’s an everything-in-the-pot type of stew. Traditionally, it included game meats, poultry, rabbit, and whatever was available from the season’s bounty.
Today, chicken, pulled pork and beef stew meat, along with lima beans, tomatoes, okra, corn, potatoes other vegetables, aromatics, and flavor add ins combine to create this hearty stew. Gumbo and okra stew both are seafood forward, relative to their coastline locations, yet both hearty stews include a notable cast of co-stars reminiscent to Kentucky’s hearty stew.
Both adaptations of a West African stew, thickened with okra. Separated by regional differences, mimicked through migration and time, these three stews record the story of an ingredient that traveled halfway around the world, and over 500 years later, plays a key role in the story of the American culinary experience.
Rice. Sugar. Coffee. Three ingredients that play an integral part of the American culinary scene, yet their journey to America carries with them the stories of our country’s bitter past. Cash crops. Chattel Slavery. Sugar Cane. Golden Rice. Companion plants, spices, and livestock transported to offer a familiar bite to forced patrons of the “New World.” Amidst grief and protest, a familiar bite offered uneasy nourishment. New crops brought new techniques and a wealth of knowledge increasing the agricultural footprint in the eastern hemisphere.
The list goes on. Millet, sorghum and watermelon. Lima beans, yams, peanuts and plantains. Limes, pepper and palm oil. All of these ingredients were recorded as food provisions on slave ships destined for America. Yam, however, became the most common ingredient fed to the enslaved passengers, and whether baked in a pie or candied and roasted, yam (sweet potatoes) take up important space in American cuisine.
Soul food. Food that feeds the soul while nourishing the body. It is tradition. An African American culinary experience rooted in the southern United States. Each recipe passed down from generation to generation carrying the ingredients that tell the stories of our ancestors. It is collard greens with ham hocks, black eyed peas with rice, beans with hot water cornbread, and fried chicken with macaroni and cheese. It is chitlin’s, cracklins and hominy grits.
Oxtails. Pig feet. Chicken wings. During slavery, slaves were given scraps, less desirable cuts of meat, and leftover produce. Think wings, feet, tails, ears, gizzards and the latter. From a meager selection, cooking from the heart, stretching ingredients to make ends meet, birthed soul food. Every piece of food mattered. It could mean the difference between feeding everyone sufficiently or feeding everyone just enough.
Those who cooked did so with their native techniques in mind. Grilling, stewing, pickling, deep fat frying and preserving. Cooking from the heart, they took special care of each ingredient. They adapted to the land around them and its culinary offerings. Honing their cooking techniques, using herbs and spices to elevate the flavors, all in the hopes to provide a meal that was fulfilling to the tummy, the heart and the soul. Crops such as rice, corn, greens and yams provided fillers to stretch even the most sparse ingredients.
Stews, beans and black-eyed peas over rice provided for a warm and hearty meal. From this concept, gumbo, Jambalaya and red beans and rice emerged. Hoppin’ John, shrimp and grits, corn bread and hush puppies. Corn pudding, fried chicken wings and ribs are all derived from soul food.
Soul Food derived from the heart, to feed the soul while nourishing the body. It is a dish designed to feed the masses and designed to elevate the flavor profiles of any ingredient. It represents the survival of misplaced souls. It is the pain, and the beauty of West African cuisine meets European cuisine, meets Creole cuisine. Each recipe passed down from generation to generation withstanding the test of time. Present to deliver the story of those who have passed and those who left their mark on the world through their culinary delicacies.
My mother used to say that you do not owe anybody anything, but you should never leave someone hungry. There is always a way to stretch the food to feed at least one more. Soul food. Every ingredient, no matter how bold or subtle, plays a key role, each important in a culinary journey. Each dish, orchestrated to create a balance of flavors that dance across your tastebuds creating an indelible memory.
Kentucky Burgoo
Ingredients:
• 8 ounces beef stew meat
• 16 ounces smoked sausage
• 1 onion, diced
• ½ cup frozen sliced okra
• ½ cup frozen lima beans
• 16 ounces frozen vegetable soup mix
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 16 ounces shredded cooked chicken
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons bourbon
• salt and pepper
Directions:
Brown the beef and smoked sausage, then remove the meat from the pot. Cook the onion and all of the frozen vegetables in the pot along with the garlic. When the garlic becomes fragrant, stir the canned tomatoes into the vegetable mixture.
Return the beef and sausage to the pot along with the chicken, broth, Worcestershire sauce, bourbon, salt, and pepper. Bring the burgoo to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer the burgoo for 2 hours before serving.
