The Spirit of Soul Food : Race, Faith, and Food Justice

Soul food has played a critical role in preserving Black history, community, and culinary genius. It is also a response to—and marker of—centuries of food injustice. Given the harm that our food production system inflicts upon Black people, what should soul food look like today? Christopher Carter's answer to that question merges a history of Black American foodways with a Christian ethical response to food injustice. Carter reveals how racism and colonialism have long steered the development of US food policy. The very food we grow, distribute, and eat disproportionately harms Black people specifically and people of color among the global poor in general. Carter reflects on how people of color can eat in a way that reflects their cultural identities while remaining true to the principles of compassion, love, justice, and solidarity with the marginalized. Both a timely mediation and a call to action, The Spirit of Soul Food places today's Black foodways at the crossroads of food justice and Christian practice. |Preface ix Introduction: Knowing, Eating, and Believing 1 1 Transatlantic Soul 22 2 Food Pyramid Scheme 57 3 Being Human as Praxis 87 4 Tasting Freedom 122 Conclusion: Food Deserts and Desserts 157 Notes 165 Index 179 | "I've never read a book like this before! Part history book, part cookbook, part call-to-action and resource for spiritual formation. The Spirit of Soul Food is suited for a variety of audiences ready for the timely challenge of inviting a deeper integration of our ethics, actions, and daily bread."—Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church "Carter's excellent book breaks important new ground at the crucial nexus of race, religion, food, animals, and the environment. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to address this cutting-edge territory, which is crucial for the futures of human and more-than-human life."—David L. Clough, University of Chester | Christopher Carter is an assistant professor of theology and religious studies at the University of San Diego. He is also a pastor within the United Methodist Church and has served churches in Battle Creek, Michigan, and in Torrance and Compton, California. Soul food has played a critical role in preserving Black history, community, and culinary genius. It is also a response to—and marker of—centuries of food injustice. Given the harm that our food production system inflicts upon Black people, what should soul food look like today? Christopher Carter's answer to that question merges a history of Black American foodways with a Christian ethical response to food injustice. Carter reveals how racism and colonialism have long steered the development of US food policy. The very food we grow, distribute, and eat disproportionately harms Black people specifically and people of color among the global poor in general. Carter reflects on how people of color can eat in a way that reflects their cultural identities while remaining true to the principles of compassion, love, justice, and solidarity with the marginalized. Both a timely mediation and a call to action, The Spirit of Soul Food places today's Black foodways at the crossroads of food justice and Christian practice. |Preface ix Introduction: Knowing, Eating, and Believing 1 1 Transatlantic Soul 22 2 Food Pyramid Scheme 57 3 Being Human as Praxis 87 4 Tasting Freedom 122 Conclusion: Food Deserts and Desserts 157 Notes 165 Index 179 |" The Spirit of Soul Food is a must-read for anyone interested in challenging the industrial food system in practical terms." — Reading Religion "Christopher Carter's The Spirit of Soul Food is a deeply enlightening discussion of food, foodways, and how the lived experiences of people can shape and be shaped by what they grow, acquire, and eat." — Journal of Folklore Research Reviews "I've never read a book like this before! Part history book, part cookbook, part call-to-action and resource for spiritual formation. The Spirit of Soul Food is suited for a variety of audiences ready for the timely challenge of inviting a deeper integration of our ethics, actions, and daily bread."—Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church | Christopher Carter is an assistant professor of theology and religious studies at the University of San Diego. He is also a pastor within the United Methodist Church and has served churches in Battle Creek, Michigan, and in Torrance and Compton, California. This book suggests that the genesis of Black American foodways, and soul food in particular, was the survival and preservation of the Black community. However, if soul food is to remain a response to social and food injustice in the Black community, given the myriad of ways industrial agriculture harms Black people—economically, environmentally, ideologically—what should soul food look like today? In seeking to answer this question, this book explores the relationship between and among food, Christian, and cultural identity among African Americans by examining the U.S. food system and the impact that current policies and practices have on Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. Using liberation theology and decolonial methods, the book argues for and constructs an anti-oppressive theological anthropology that serves as the foundation for liberatory Black foodways. The book concludes by offering three theologically grounded food practices as a way to begin addressing food injustice and to move toward food sovereignty in Black and other marginalized communities: soulfull eating (of which an agent and context specific black veganism is seen as ideal), seeking justice for food workers, and caring for the earth. "This project explores the relationship between and among religion, food, and cultural identity among African American Christians by examining the food system in the U.S. and the impact that current policies and practices have on black people. The central thesis of "The Spirit of Soul Food" is that African American Christians ought to promote food justice as a constitutive element of liberation from both structural and ideological oppression. Carter shows that food justice, while an emerging social justice issue within the black community, is often overlooked within African American Christianity. However, "The Spirit of Soul Food" argues that how African American Christians eat is interrelated to how they practice their faith. As such, thinking theologically about food, resisting, and reforming oppressive culinary traditions should be seen as liberatory practices for the black community in general and the African American Christian community specifically. Carter's method, historical analysis, and engagement with a variety of texts will add a much-needed perspective on the intersections of critical race, justice, food, and religion studies"-- Provided by publisher