African American Foodways

The Place Beyond the Fence: Slavery and Cultural Invention on a Delaware Tenant Farm ABSTRACT Information about the lives and material culture of 18th-and early 19th-century enslaved African American laborers was recovered from Locus 1 of the Rumsey/Polk Tenant/Prehistoric site (7NCF112) in St. Georges Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware. This site contained the remains of multiple slave quarters and associated cultural features, evidence of which is rarely found in Delaware. Data from the site elucidate current understanding of slave life, housing, diet and cultural practices within a northern state situated in a transition area or cultural borderland between New England and the Tidewater regions. Locus 1 exhibited aspects of cultural traditions amongst enslaved communities in both regions as slaves in this upper Mid-Atlantic state coped with the stresses of slavery, while simultaneously selectively modifying and re-inventing their own practices and customs to define themselves culturally.

Considerado o cheiro da cidade de Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos, o perfume do acarajé -- os bolinhos de feijão fradinho frito em dendê -- são um raiz onipresente do profano e sagrado na cultura alimentar da Bahia. A maioria dos vendedores são mulheres: as "Baianas de Acarajé", que historicamente eram também filhas-de-santo, adeptas da prática religiosa do Candomblé. Estas mulheres e um pequeno grupo de vendedores homens são descritos como o cartão postal de identidade baiana. Desde 2006, o conselho da cidade, autoridades governamentais locais, FIFA e grupos religiosos evangélicos ameaçam esta comida de rua afro-brasileira. A persistência da cultura, apesar de incursões por fora das entidades que se opõem a práticas de matriz africana, é um ponto de inflexão no discurso entre tradição e modernização. Este artigo investiga o impacto de regulamentos municipais, ideologias religiosas conflitantes, e supostas ameaças ao meio ambiente como mecanismo de controle para a produção e consumo de acarajé. Práticas de mídia criam um imaginário cultural e turístico muitas vezes distintos da realidade vivida. A produção, consumo e distribuição de alimentos e as tradições de comensalidade, ou os hábitos alimentares, ‘foodways’ da população, na esfera pública baiana, oferecem um meio para discutir identidade política e questões de gênero, raça e classe.

This essay will investigate the idea of As Baianas de acarajé and acarajé, the black-eyed pea fritter as iconic aspects of Bahian identity, the impact of municipal regulations, conflicting religious ideologies, and alleged threats to the environment as control mechanism for the production and consumption of acarajé. Coca-Cola and McDonalds were key financial sponsors for the 2013 FIFA World Cup. FIFA’s promotional rhetoric and marketing campaign identified the rich creolized culture of Brazil yet privately worked to ban the sale of these foods. Media practices create a cultural and tourist imaginary often distinct from the lived reality. The production, consumption and distribution of food and foodways within the Bahian public sphere offer a means to discuss identity politics, and issues of gender, race and class (Peirce 1991; Bessi and Santiago 2014; Stam 1997).

This paper reviews the transformation of meanings of food items central to African American fare from symbols of slavery to means of salvation as the African Hebrew Israelite Community (AHIC) live out their Biblically inspired lifestyle and perfect the vegan diet at its core.

Information about the lives and material culture of 18th- and early 19th-century enslaved black workers of West African birth or descent was recovered from Locus 1 of the Rumsey/Polk Tenant/Prehistoric site (7NCF112) in St. Georges Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware. This site contained the remains of multiple buildings interpreted as enslaved laborers’ quarters and associated cultural features, evidence of which is infrequently found in Delaware. Data from the site elucidate the current understanding of housing, diet, and cultural practices among the enslaved in the cultural borderland of the upper Mid-Atlantic region. Archaeology also reveals ways captives coped with the stresses of human trafficking, bondage, and subjugation, while simultaneously selectively modifying and reinventing cultural practices and customs. La información sobre la vida y la cultura material de los trabajadores afrodescendientes esclavizados del siglo 18 y principios del siglo 19 se recuperaron del Locus 1 del sitio arrendatario/prehistórico Rumsey/Polk (7NCF112) en St. Georges Hundred, Condado de New Castle, Delaware. Este sitio contenía los restos de múltiples edificios interpretados como cuartos de trabajadores esclavizados y las características culturales asociadas, evidencia de la cual se encuentra con poca frecuencia en Delaware. Los datos del sitio aclaran la comprensión actual de la vivienda, la dieta y las prácticas culturales entre los esclavos en la frontera cultural de la región del Atlántico medio superior. La arqueología también revela formas en que los cautivos enfrentaban el estrés del tráfico de personas, la esclavitud y la subyugación, mientras modificaban y reinventaban selectivamente las prácticas y costumbres culturales. Des informations sur la vie et la culture matérielle au 18ème siècle et au début du 19ème siècle de travailleurs noirs esclaves originaires de l'Afrique de l'Ouest par naissance ou descendance, ont été collectées à partir de Locus 1 sur le site préhistorique/Polk Tenant/Rumsey (7NCF112) à St. Georges Hundred, comté de New Castle, Delaware. Ce site contenait les ruines de plusieurs bâtisses dont il a été déduit qu'elles étaient les quartiers des travailleurs esclaves et comportaient des caractéristiques culturelles associées, dont les traces sont rarement trouvées dans le Delaware. Les données prélevées sur le site viennent élucider la connaissance actuelle du logement, du régime alimentaire et des pratiques culturelles parmi les esclaves se trouvant dans la zone frontalière culturelle de la région mid-atlantique septentrionale. L'archéologie met également en lumière les moyens grâce auxquels les captifs surmontaient les souffrances liées au trafic d'êtres humains, à la servitude et à l'oppression, tout en modifiant et réinventant simultanément et de manière sélective les pratiques et coutumes culturelles.

In Brazil, the legal, political, and civil status of the Afro-descendant population in the post-abolition period has long been a topic of conflict and controversy. Public policies relating to access to land, for example, have skewed the concentration of real estate – in both physical and symbolic terms – in favor of certain segments of the population and to the detriment of others who have nevertheless frequently attempted to subscribe to the so-called ‘whitening’ (Europeanization) of the nation. In this article, I trace the trajectory which has carried quilombolas (maroons: the descendants of self-liberated African slaves) of the north of the state of Espírito Santo to a position of publicly affirming their rights to both identity and territory by making land claims against other agents in the public sphere. I seek to identify the contexts of the formation of these assertions of agency in the midst of multiple rural and quilombola identities in order to identify how quilombolas have asserted their relational differences vis-à-vis all other social groups.