In both movies, Once Upon a time when we were Colored, and Soul Food, Food is more than nourishment. In Soul Food Ahmad talks discusses how black people didn't have much to celebrate back then (early -mid 1900s. The period when Once Upon, takes place) and food was the only thing that brought people together to talk with each other, celebrating family. Big Mamas meals are paying respect to like Poppa, Ma Punk and Cliff who lived during the times of slavery by cooking up the same things they ate and staying together as a family, because that's all they had in Once Upon.
Big Mama's cooking transcends periods. By teaching her daughters how to cook, Big Mama not only shows her daughters love but she is able to explain the black struggle. Balthrope explains, "...Many slaves received the worst scraps of food... black cooks learned to create flavorful meals through the use of various spices and a little imagination. A cooking style literacy developed that did not rely on written instructions since slaves were denied literacy...a tradition was established of passing down cooking secrets orally" (104). Soul food touches on this subject early on when Bird complains about always cooking with ham hocks and not using proper measuring tools.
Cooking is also not only bringing people together, but when people are together working hard on a favorite meal is a way to show love. This is scene in Once Upon when Ma Punk's son comes home from the North to visit her. She cooks him all of his favorite dishes and it is one of the only scenes with a decently elaborate display of food, unlike Soul Food where every Sunday there is a feast.
Appreciating what you have to eat and who you are eating it with is at the core of Soul Food. It is a important reminder of Black struggle that still is being fought today.
No comments:
Post a Comment