Soul Food Junkies Summary Essay

Shifts in the “Food Marketplace” have greatly affected our food choices and habits in the last 40-50 years. As one woman stated in the film The Weight of the Nation, “It’s so hard to combat with what the tv is telling you to feed your kids”. Advertising has come to a whole new level in our generation; you can’t turn on the television without seeing an advertisement for fast food or something equally as unhealthy. As another woman put it, “you are taught that you can eat anywhere, anytime of day, and that eating is a glorious thing”. Another shift that has occurred is an economic one. If you go into a poor neighborhood corner store like they did in the film, you would see chips, sugar, sweets, etc. All of these unhealthy foods are cheap, incredibly cheaper than fresh fruits and vegetables. Obesity rates in these poor areas are much higher than in areas with a higher average income. Culturally, our country is changing to one that is always moving; we don’t have time to prepare a meal for the whole family. It’s much quicker to buy unhealthy fast food that you know your family will enjoy than to prepare a healthy meal that they will grudgingly consume. The film mentioned that our bodies were originally built for scarcity. We are wired to react to things that are sweet and contain a lot of fat because when an animal was killed we had to be able to eat as much of it as possible. The signals telling us to stop eating had to be overridden. Now, we consume so much fat and sugar not

Ingredients and recipes for cooking soul food change for varies reasons. Numerous slaves could not read or write, so the recipes were passed along orally. Additionally, soul food cooking changes from region to region dependent upon on settler impact and ingredients special to a particular region. For instance, low country soul food generally alludes to an area along South Carolina's coast. Ingredients special to South Carolina's coast are rice, crabs, oysters, shrimp, and sweet potatoes. In Louisiana, Gumbo is customarily a New Orleans Creole dish. The primary ingredient is okra, or quingombo, a native African plant. Creole food has also been impacted by the Spanish, French, Caribbean and Native Americans settlers (Rhyne, 2015).

Obesity was significantly more prevalent amongst female African Americans in this community. With the highest rate affecting women between the ages of 45 to 64. Obesity was also higher amongst Black females who’s educational attainment was lower

Traditionally, the African American diet consisted of leafy green vegetables, fish, poultry, and beans. However, the cooking methods, such as deep frying, the heavy use of gravy, pork fat, and butter add a large amount fat and cholesterol to an otherwise heart-healthy diet. “Soul food” with its fried chicken, fried pork chops, and corn bread have become the traditional comfort food, and there is a large significant placed in the African-American culture on community and family gatherings centered around food. Historically, African-Americans lived a highly active lifestyle that compensated for a higher than average fat content in their diet. As modern trends swing toward a more sedentary lifestyle, the direct result is heart disease rising to be the leading cause of death among African-Americans (Cowling, 2006, p8).

The author used a certified personal trainer, Kimberly Garrison to help prove this point. Garrison says blacks have become too comfortable being oversized, have too many excuses when it comes to working out, and need to make working out appropriately and choosing a healthier diet part of our daily routine to have a long term benefit. Garrison named a few solutions,like committing yourself to cutting fried foods, get good cardio exercise three to four times a week, and add additional weight training to tone and strengthen muscles. She also stated blacks should make exercise a priority over getting their nails and hair done, driving expensive cars instead of having an importance on feeling good and being in good health.

The risks of getting those diseases are even higher for African Americans.” (American Heart Association). High blood pressure and obesity are the common conditions that increase a heart disease. High blood pressure is a condition in which the blood flow is abnormally higher than usual in the arteries. “Nearly 42% percent black men and 45% black women of twenty years and older have high blood pressure” (DeNoon). Researchers may have found a gene in blacks that make them more sensitive to salt, which in the long run increases the risk of high blood pressure. Obesity in african americans is more common as well, which increases the risk of heart disease. 63% of black men and 77% of black women are overweight or obese. A solution for high blood pressure and obesity is a healthy diet and exercise. It won’t only reduce the chances of getting these conditions but also reduce the chances of a heart disease or a

The movie Soul Food is a comedy/drama made in 1997 by George Tillman Jr. The movie is centered around a Chicagoan family and their struggles to handle life situations while maintaining the concept of family. Soul Food not only represents the delicious food that has nourished the black body for generations; the movie also represents the concept of preserving family tradition. This film covers the basis of the Great Migration, when people from the south migrated to the north and Midwest in search of work and freedom from southern oppression. George Tillman Jr. does a good job at creating well rounded characters and depicting the positives and the negatives of each character’s role in the movie. Soul Food is a representation of the numerous benefits and the disadvantages of being black in America.

Dr. Marc Lamont Hill stated, “ If you want to wipe out an entire generation of people and engage in a 21st century genocide, all you have to do is keep doing what we are doing and deprive people of access to healthy food.” Bryon Hurt 's documentary Soul Food Junkies challenges and informs people 's way of thinking when it comes to soul food. Questioning if dishes such as fried chicken, buttery mac and cheese, smokey ribs and greens in pork fat are significant to the black culture or just a recipe for an early death. So, he used his father 's story, Jackie Hurt, about his ways of not giving up his artery-clogging classic soul food. At one point, Bryon Hurt wanted to be just like his father so he ate just like him. Especially on Sundays for the breakfast ritual which included grits, cheesy eggs, salt pork and bacon on toast. He felt that was a way to bond with his father. Jackie Hurt was not only consuming soul food dishes on a daily basis but he never exercised. This lead to serve weight gain, but he was not changing his eating habits even though his family did. He was later diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that took his life so young.

There are also other racial health factors mainly about African Americans versus Whites. African Americans have more chronic health problems than other groups as well as coronary heart disease. The factors that contribute to these are higher smoking, hypertension, diabetes and obesity. This can be related to being easily targeted for destressors. Blacks can have higher smoking due to how cotinine is processed and “found at a higher level in the blood of blacks than of white” and their preference for menthol cigarettes.

Fried chicken, mash potatoes and collard greens mixed with fatback meat was my family’s favorite Sunday meal. Soul food, as it has been called, is valued by many African American families. Given the worldwide obesity epidemic that appears to be affecting most ethnic groups, there is an appreciation that the causes of obesity among African American families and others must lie in the fundamental aspects of the food supply (Capers, C et al. 2011). In my opinion, African Americans in the United Sates are more likely to be obese because there is a large number of low-income families’ and many are uninsured. According to the Office of Minority Health, African American women have the highest rates of being obese compared to other groups in

Soul Food is perceived as very fattening and unhealthy. When Soul Food is made it is made with unhealthy ingredients which are high in fat and sodium that can lead to high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, and strokes. Most African Americans believe that if the food is considered “healthy” it is distasteful. Showing that the common African American diet can be healthy and delicious with the same great taste will produce a new cooking style of food that will encourage African Americans to alter their diets to take better care of themselves. It will also teach the history as to why they eat the way they do through the diets of the slaves, or foods of the black South since emancipation. The basic diet of an American American is high in undesired

Within past decades and the unequivocal heyday of fast food, obesity has become an undoubted issue for America, as well as other countries across the world. In terms of how to solve this issue, the majority of people are split on whether the government should have an active part in health regulation. Michelle Obama, who gave her statement in her, Remarks to the NAACP National Convention, as well as others such as Tim Minchin in his song, Fat Children, believe that one’s weight is a personal issue that should be solved socially, devoid of government interaction. In addition to their belief in trying to solve the obesity epidemic with creating an increased sense of social responsibility, they also make use of popular culture to aid in their points.

Obesity does not discriminate against social status, sex, or race; it can take a person’s life and turn it upside down in the blink of an eye if they are not careful. Some people think of obesity as a worldwide killer because there is no outrunning it if it overtakes a person’s body. Every 1 in 3 adults are obese right here in America, that should give each and every individual some type of hint that there is a major problem occurring. The obesity epidemic is not something that has just caught the attention of people recently; it has been going on since the 1950’s! This epidemic is a major problem; over 2.8 million people die each year as a result of being obese or extremely overweight and over 40 million children were said to be obese in

When flipping through the thousands of documentaries on the many streaming services there are three main criteria come to mind; one looks for the entertainment factor, credentials of the information the and lasting affect it leaves on the viewer. The documentary Soul Food Junkies directed and produced by the filmmaker Byron Hunt defiantly has an interesting take on these main criteria. The documentary holds ones attention with comedy and relatability with a family aspect, though interesting there’s plenty of experts and hard facts even though personal option is projected from the producer. The documentary does leave he viewer with questions about their own habits and that of the ones around them. Soul Food Junkies hits and misses the criteria

“As a Nation, we have a responsibility to ensure our children have every chance to fulfill their potential, and that starts by providing them with the opportunities to make healthy choices,” the President said. And he continued, “This month, we build on our progress and raise awareness of the benefits of healthy eating and active living so our children can lead prosperous and productive lives.” But wait is not soul food one of the main reasons that rates of obesity and chronic disease related deaths are extremely high in the black community?