Sweet-and-sour Pig’s Trotters

The edge of Chicagos Chinatown, on the South Side, was heavily populated by African-Americans. Ethnically segregated as Chicago was, there was nonetheless a great deal of cross-cultural exchange. African-Americans shared the Chinese-American taste for pig’s feet, or trotters. They would often come to Chinatown to buy the treat fresh at Chinese grocers. ‘Soul food’ knows no geographic or ethnic boundaries.

I remember the pungent aromas that used to emanate from my mother’s kitchen wh