Still Dying for Soul Food

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In her first book, Dr. Williams-Forson has a chapter called Still Dying for Soul Food. She says incidents of white supremacy around black people's food started to appear on the smaller screens in real life captured by our phones. In Oakland, when the black family was at the park and this woman found the need to call the police to say, hey, there are people barbecuing in the park. More on soul food later.

What’s the difference between Southern cooking and “soul food?” Is there a correct type of mac and cheese? And whose business is it what you eat? (Hint: no one’s). Culinary historian, scholar of African American life and culture critic Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson is a professor at University of Maryland College Park and department chair in the Department of American Studies. She also authored the books “Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America” and “Building Houses out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power.” We chat about everything from oral traditions to “soul food” in popular culture, gendered roles in cooking, hyperlocal produce, systemic oppression and why someone would make chicken without seasoning it. On national television.

Visit Dr. Psyche Williams-Torson’s website and follow her on Instagram and Twitter

Buy Dr. Williams-Torson’s books: Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America and Building Houses out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power

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