African Americans Food

African food spread to the United States because of the slave trade. Fufu, which is very popular in all of Africa, is recognized as a form of cornmeal in America. It was actually how cornmeal was brought to this country by the southern slaves, and made so popular. From fufu this country got porridge, ground millet, cassava flour which makes fritters, and other batters, flatbreads and even the every so popular in the south grits. These dishes are part of southern American culture but are all African foods according to the book South African Gourmet Food and Wine: Traditional South African Food and More.

Other foods such as, wild grapes, jack rabbits, wood rats, yucca fruit, wild potatoes, juniper, berries and mountain sheep were eaten all the time.

The Kingdom Ghana in western Africa flourished. Ghana gained control of the salt-and-gold trade (Doc. 2). This was important because Gold was used as a currency,

In general, they were the first people to cultivate chocolate, corn, cotton, peanuts, pineapples, potatoes, rubber, quinine, tobacco, and vanilla. But, in the frozen tundra of Western Alaska, Native Americans dealt with arctic conditions. They relied on hunting and fishing. They hunted seals, whales, and other marine mammals. These animals were not only useful as food, but as skinned layers of clothing that kept them warm in such climate. However, in milder regions along the northwest Pacific Coast, the people there could produce food with very little effort. The physical environment impacted them by providing marine life for fishing. In the Southwest, some of the earliest farming societies developed. Since the environment was desert, Native Americans developed complex irrigation systems for farming. They even dug wells, built ponds, and built dams to collect rainwater to water their crops in the desert weather. All across the different regions and climates where the First American lived, they all adapted to thrive in whatever environment they were dealing

The term Soul Food originated from the cuisine developed by African Slaves mainly from the American South. A dark period in the history of the United States resulted in a cuisine fashion from the meager ingredients available to slaves and sharecropper black families. The meat used was usually the least desirable cuts and vegetables, some bordering weeds, were all that was available for the black slaves to prepare nutritious meals for their families. From the meager ingredients involved a cuisine that is simply yet hearty and delicious.

The people were eating off horses and other beasts as long as they persisted. They made due off eating dogs, cats, rats, mice, shoes, and other leather they could find. Some settlers started digging up dead corpses to feed off of. They would lick up blood from the weak.

On special occasions, bread or pancakes were baked. Men usually supplied meat: ham, venison, beef, salt pork, buffalo, rabbit, or bear. Settlers largely drank what we do today, but also foraged for delicious additions to their meals. They learned how to pick nuts and berries from the surrounding woodland, and sometimes purchased brown sugar, molasses, honey or salt. Available foods depended on location and season, so produce and game varied greatly from one area to the next.

The Early Woodland people lived from 1000-300 BC and were a culture who primarily hunted and fished. However, plants became more important as they

According to Joseph Eboreime, a Nigerian historian, the bronze heads are a visual history of the Benin Royal Family from before 1440 until 1897 (Woods, K. 2008, p. 12). It appears that the bronzes were seen only by the Oba and Royal Court with access to the royal compounds and rooms, during ceremonies commemorating their ancestors (Ben-Amos in Woods, K. 2008, p. 12) . It is also unlikely they were seen in situ by the Portuguese traders either (Pereira, D. P. also Pina, R. both in Woods, K. and MacKenzie, R. 2008, p. 33).

The Neolithic and Paleolithic people valued fire for warmth, light, and cooking. They also valued tools for daily use like, chopping wood with an axe to start a fire. They traveled in clans of 20-30 people and had shown no values to ethnic groups. They considered hunting and gathering a sport of survival. Common animals included woolly mammoths, woolly rhinoceros, sabretooth, wild goats, buffalo, bison, and small mammals.

More often than not, the ingredients used to prepare an African dish are fresh, very cheap and easily used to make a quick meal. Common vegetables include kale, spinach, cabbage, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, avocados and other leafy greens, while beef and goat meat are the common meats served in an African meal. Fish, chicken, and mutton are also available but are more expensive (AIG, 2011). Meat is often used merely as one of a number of flavorings, rather than as a main ingredient in cooking. Tropical fruits such as mangoes, oranges, pineapples, bananas, papaws, and pears are cheap, plentiful and popular among the people of Africa, because they are not available all year round and are dictated by seasons. Other ingredients used in typical dishes include rice, corn meal or maize, wheat and millet flour.

Today, the writing of ancients and archeologists has given us insight about the foods that were eaten, and the manner in which they were prepared. Their climate, soil, and terrain of the region exposed that it was especially good for growing grains, legumes, beans, olive trees, and grape trees (Moulton 3). Grain was their primary ingredient for making flour, which was used in the most common foods eaten. Including varieties of bread, porridge, biscuits, and cakes. They

within their lifestyles. They slowly learned to eat foods such as nuts, grains, roots, and

The hunter-gatherer populations diet was calculated using only meat, vegetables and fruits, similar to the non-human apes.

5. One family talks about how they lived off of wild fruits, berries, nuts, salt, coffee, and sugar.