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What the Slaves Ate Recollections of African American Foods and Foodways from the Slave Narratives
Herbert C. Covey and Dwight Eisnach
ISBN: 0-313-37497-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-37497-5
311 pages, photos
Greenwood Press
Publication: 5/20/2009
List Price: $59.95 (UK Sterling Price: £41.95)
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 7 x 10
Subjects: Reviews:
  • "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.'
    "
    —Library Journal     July 1, 2009
  • "This book is among the first to explore the diet and cooking behaviors of American slaves through the use of first-person narratives as opposed to archaeological evidence such as slave ship logs, plantation rationing logs and manuals on the treatment of slaves. Covey, an author and Vice Chair of the Colorado State Juvenile Parole Board, has teamed with
    Eisnach, and independent scholar and editor, to collect oral histories handed down from generation to generation and compiled by a WPA narrative project. The authors discuss African traditions and roots that influenced food consumption and break down the slaves' diet according to food category."
    —Reference & Research Book News     August 2009
Description: 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. Title Features:
  • Powerful excerpts from the WPA narratives, allowing long-neglected African American voices to be heard
  • Approachable cookbook format, with most chapters organized by type of food
  • Authentic recipes for some foods mentioned in the narratives
  • Accounts of slave gardens and vegetables
  • Archaeological findings on food remains and artifacts found near slave dwellings
  • Appendix listing the interviewees who referred to the foods in their narratives, organized by food and by state
  • Bibliography of print and electronic resources for further research
About the Author: HERBERT C. COVEY is the author of African American Slave Medicine: Herbal and Non-Herbal Treatments (2007) as well as of numerous books and articles on juvenile gangs and on drug addiction. He has been Vice Chair of the Colorado State Juvenile Parole Board since 1994 and Field Administrator for the Colorado Department of Human Services since 1999.

DWIGHT EISNACH is an independent scholar and editor. He began his career as an investigative reporter and later served the Colorado Department of Human Services for some 25 years, successively as Legislative Liaison, Public Information Officer, and Administrator of the Colorado Juvenile Parole Board.
LCC Class: 390'.25-dc22
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