African American Holiday Traditions

[DrPhil]

Any Black/soul food traditions this Thanksgiving? If not, were there any southern food traditions (that span across race and ethnicity)?

My nuclear family has not cooked chittlerlings in decades.
My significant other's family has chitterlings for every holiday.

My family served stuffing, rice, turkey necks, turkey gizzards, turkey liver, and some other stuff...yum.
SO's family served greens seasoned with pork, deliciously sweet cooked ham, whole turkey (I did not eat it), baked macaroni, potato salad, 6 desserts...and some other stuff...yum. ().

I'm leaving lots of stuff out but I'm listing the stuff that I ate more than one serving of.

[christiangirl]

Our holidays always consist of the same foods: deviled eggs, collard greens, mac and cheese, ham, turkey, stuffing, yams, cranberry sauce (real cranberries this year thanks to MommyCG), baked corn, and a bajillion desserts. Corn bread and potato salad were absent this year. We save the chitlins and black eyed peas for New Year's.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

Our holidays always consist of the same foods: deviled eggs, collard greens, mac and cheese, ham, turkey, stuffing, yams, cranberry sauce (real cranberries this year thanks to MommyCG), baked corn, and a bajillion desserts. Corn bread and potato salad were absent this year. We save the chitlins and black eyed peas for New Year's.

Deviled eggs! I forgot about those! Sometimes we do sweet potato casserole w/ the marshmallows.

Growing up, my mom had to eat chitterlings because her father loved them. She hates them and probably hasn't eaten them in 40 years. My grandmother stopped cooking them after my grandfather died. I don't know anyone in my family who actually still eats them.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Deviled eggs! I forgot about those!

Daag, how did I forget the deviled eggs? I ate a couple of servings and packed the Significant Other and me two plates that included deviled eggs. My plate was intentionally better than the plate that I packed for the SO.

Lesson that SO remembers every holiday: Pack your own plate so you won't be stealing DrPhil's awesomely good leftovers. SO is more into chitterlings and other dishes that SO's family cooks but my family does not cook.

[Honeykiss1974]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

Our holidays always consist of the same foods: deviled eggs, collard greens, mac and cheese, ham, turkey, stuffing, yams, cranberry sauce (real cranberries this year thanks to MommyCG), baked corn, and a bajillion desserts. Corn bread and potato salad were absent this year. We save the chitlins and black eyed peas for New Year's.

New Years is typically black eye peas, cornbread, and neck bones. Now I will probably continue the neck bone tradition because those are really good and not as much work as chitterlings. lol

Speaking of healthy soul food, Patty LaBelle has a cookbook too and I've heard great reviews about it.

[DrPhil]

Mac and cheese is a vegetable during the holidays.

Yeah there is a problem when a large percentage of a subpopulation of people does not change their eating habits to adjust to the change in daily living patterns (i.e., the majority no longer walking and working the land). It became the norm to be overweight, have high blood pressure, and be diabetic. Actually, if you were of a healthy weight and did not have diabetes, depending on where you were, you were called uppity and wannabe white. That still happens in some places. Yep.

/end necessary PSA for Black food thread

[Gusteau]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Mac and cheese is a vegetable during the holidays.

Only during the holidays? That certainly changes Gusteau's Food Pyramid...

[christiangirl]

I can't remember why, but I always thought chess pie was English.

[ElieM]

^^^what she said

[DrPhil]

I never heard of it so I had to wikipedia.

It was brought from England: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_pie

[DrPhil]

I read wikipedia and still don't know what the heck chess pie is supposed to be. What does it taste like. Wikipedia references vinegar pie and says they are similar.

Speaking of vinegar, my family puts vinegar on our cabbage and cornbread dish. Is vinegar pie that tasty? If so, sign me up.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I read wikipedia and still don't know what the heck chess pie is supposed to be. What does it takes like. Wikipedia references vinegar pie and says they are similar.

Speaking of vinegar, my family puts vinegar on our cabbage and cornbread dish. Is vinegar pie that tasty? If so, sign me up.

It's like pecan pie without the pecans.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

It's like pecan pie without the pecans.

Oh yum, thanks! Wikipedia mentions pecan pie and the similar preparation. I take the pecans off of my pecan pie, anyway.

[amIblue?]

Chess pie is the bomb-diggity. My mom makes a chocolate chess sometimes which is just a slice of heaven.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

Chess pie is the bomb-diggity. My mom makes a chocolate chess sometimes which is just a slice of heaven.

Okay, that sounds good.

One of my family's Christmas traditions is a brunch. We're Black so I guess that makes it an African-American tradition. I think we'd serve shellfish, but my grandmother is seriously allergic to it (ie, can't even be in the same room as someone who's had it and hasn't washed their face/hands).