African American Food: Recent Developments

The narrative of African American food culture extends deep into the beginnings of African food cultures, the birth of the Atlantic world, and the earliest years of American history. Although born in the distant past, African American cooks and their cooking continue to be a rich and dynamic part of the national food culture and conversation about the place of food in contemporary life. The end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first have seen a rise in the interest in both the development and direction of African American foodways. However, African American food people have not been locked in an ethnic bubble; they have entered the wider dialogue about diet, childhood obesity, access to better food, locality and seasonality of food, food history, and even the African and African American heritage of garden crops and heritage breeds. Informed by the past but in search of a better future, the world of African American foodways has borne new key texts, establishments, and luminaries.