Soul food

Soul food is the ethnic cuisine of African Americans. Originating in the American South from the cuisines of enslaved Africans transported from Africa through the Atlantic slave trade, soul food is closely associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States. The expression "soul food" originated in the mid-1960s when "soul" was a common word used to describe African-American culture. Soul food uses cooking techniques and ingredients from West African, Central African, Western European, and Indigenous cuisine of the Americas. According to soul food historian Adrian Miller, soul food exhibits some influences from West African cuisine such as the use of greens mixed together with meat and the frying of fritters in deep oil.

Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Updated Jul 7, 2026.