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Title details for What the Slaves Ate by Herbert C. Covey - Available

What the Slaves Ate

Recollections of African American Foods and Foodways from the Slave Narratives

by Herbert C. Covey
Dwight Eisnach
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Carefully documenting African American slave foods, this book reveals that slaves actively developed their own foodways-their customs involving family and food. The authors connect African foods and food preparation to the development during slavery of Southern cuisines having African influences, including Cajun, Creole, and what later became known as soul food, drawing on the recollections of ex-slaves recorded by Works Progress Administration interviewers. Valuable for its fascinating look into the very core of slave life, this book makes a unique contribution to our knowledge of slave culture and of the complex power relations encoded in both owners' manipulation of food as a method of slave control and slaves' efforts to evade and undermine that control.
While a number of scholars have discussed slaves and their foods, slave foodways remains a relatively unexplored topic. The authors' findings also augment existing knowledge about slave nutrition while documenting new information about slave diets.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 20, 2009

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9798216164265

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9798216164265
      • File size: 6678 KB
    Kindle restrictions

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      July 15, 2009
      This fascinating anthropological documentary excavates 1930s WPA-funded interviews to find the testimony of former slaves on the subject of food's role in daily life. In 12 absorbing, essay-style chapters, Covey ("African American Slave Medicine") and independent scholar Eisnach explore how food was used to reinforce power relationships, how slave recipes gradually entered plantation kitchens, and how the Civil War changed entrenched traditions. Fourteen appendixes, categorized by food type, list specific ingredients mentioned by interview subjects and indicate the subject's home state, a record that facilitates awareness of regional customs. An excellent complement to Anne Bower's "African American Foodways".

      Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook
Kindle restrictions

subjects

Languages

  • English

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