Kyimari Reeves
Food & Culture
Dr. Daryl White
December 12, 2014

My Family’s Culinary History: A Multigenerational History and Autoethnography

When you think of or smell a certain food, what comes to mind? On one hand, the sight or smell of that food might trigger hunger, or even a memory of the last time you shared that meal with a loved one. The smell or sights of our favorite foods trigger a different thoughts or feelings in each of us. This is an example of Semiotics. Semiotics is defined as "anything that can stand for something else." Roland Barthes was one of Europe's most renowned theorists of semiology. Barthes believed that in order to generate a complete sign, there were two parts that have to work together. These two parts are known as the signifier and the signified. A good example of this is the favorite food we thought of earlier, it would act as a signifier, and the thought that came to your head when thinking of this food would act as the signified. For some, that equates food memories. My family and I have created many food memories for us as well as followed the foodways crafted for us by previous generations.
Coming from a rather diverse ethnic background, we have different variations of traditional African American foods. I have many memories of family reunions and all the interesting dishes my relatives would prepare. But when it came to certain meals my mother was very traditional in preparing it, and it had to be done a certain way or it was ruined. She wanted to maintain our family’s culture in each dish she prepared. She felt as if by doing this it kept our ancestor’s memories and foodways alive. My mother, originally from California, has always done everything she could to make every dish she prepares memorable. As she prepares a dinner of Fried Chicken, Macaroni and Cheese, Corn, and Rolls, she explains how when she was younger her mother would prepare this dish and explain the historical context behind it. How African Americans would prepare fried chicken because they couldn’t afford many of the more expensive meats. They would make sure that their food was seasoned well hence the reason my family enjoys food that is more seasoned than bland. Looking historically again, the food of the enslaved community was well seasoned. Salt was usually provided at specific interims as part of the ration system. Herbs were collected wild or grown near the home, including basil near the front door for spiritual protection. Red peppers—grown or wild—seasoned much of the dishes, giving a distinctive spiciness. Spicy foods and hot sauce is something that my family cherishes greatly. I asked my mother and my grandmother why do they enjoy hot sauce so much and they both responded with “I was raised to eat my food with hot sauce. There isn’t very much that we don’t enjoy hot sauce on.” When making the Fried Chicken dinner, I paid close attention to the entire process. I noticed that the chicken came from a pink packaging that had a piece of plastic wrap bounding it to the container. My mother took it out the packaging, rinsed it off, and proceeded to season it with seasoning salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, and sometimes she includes a Creole seasoning. I later found out that that is the same exact recipe my grandmother and my great grandmother used in the past. My maternal side of the family is originally from New Orleans which explains the Creole twist on a normal African American food that has been around for centuries.
Despite my mother growing up in a lower socio-economic class than she raised my siblings and I in, she still showed us the different inexpensive alterations to preparing certain foods. For New Years for instance, our dinner menu consists of Collard Greens, Turkey, Black eyed peas, corn bread, fried corn, and apple cider. The two items that stood out to me the most was the collard greens and the black-eyed peas because they both hold much traditional value in my family and our foodways. My mother informed me that an alteration to cooking the collard greens with ham hocks is to cook it with turkey neck bones instead. Just as much flavor, half the cost because you already have the neck bones from when you prepared the Turkey for the meal. The traditional value of Collard greens is that it is believed that eating Greens on New Years day equates a year full of monetary success. My family also believes that having black-eyed peas on New Years Day means a years worth of good luck. I asked my grandmother where that belief came from and she informed me that this belief has been in our family since before she was born. Every ancestor she had discussed it with before told her that the tradition dates back to the days of slavery but never went any further.
It never occurred to me before that the different foods that my family eats are variations of regular American food. Instead of apple pie, we make apple cobbler. Rather than Pumpkin pie, we prepare Sweet Potato Pie. Certain people eat Stuffing; my family eats Dressing because of the foodways that were created before us. These foodways helped instill our family values. Food in my family holds so much meaning; it’s the glue that has held us together for many years even before I was born. Food in my family isn’t just a substance we consume in order to keep our bodies healthy and energized. When we create a meal, it’s as if we are creating art by expressing ourselves in our dish. We take the time to perfect our meals, while also keeping our tradition alive by incorporating the same rituals as our ancestors before us.