Greens for your Black-Ass Soul
Welcome to the 66th installment of This Black-Ass Life! We’re not sure if it’s because we’re hungry, in need of comfort, or both, but this week we want to talk about Black-Ass food. Take a trip through the diaspora’s cuisine with us.
I (Jumoke) want to dedicate this newsletter to Dr. Pellom McDaniels III, my mentor and a towering figure in my life, figuratively and literally. A former football player, he also gardened, wrote poetry, curated exhibits, and dedicated his life to uplifting Blackness and preserving Black history. I just didn't know men like him existed and I'm really sad that there is one less of them in the world.
I learned that he passed this morning and I'm still in that stage of grief where my heart is completely shell-shocked, but I will do just about anything to sit in his office one more time surrounded by his books. Call your people.
l. The Facts
Here are a few of the foods foods we share through the diaspora:
Greens - Black people, from Lagos to Montgomery, LOVE greens. It is my (Jumoke) favorite food of all time. Whether it’s American greens, Nigerian efo riro, or Ethiopian gomen, we encourage you to eat all the greens!
Beans - From black-eyed peas to black and pinto beans, what can Black people not do with legumes? South African chakalaka?! Ghananian red red?!? Kenyan maharagwe?! The taste!
Spices / Peppers - Ras el hanout! Old Bay! Mitmita! Duqqa! Tony Chachere (even though Tony is a white man, he made a tasty spice)! Bay Leaf! Scotch Bonnet! Peri Peri! Spices are the reason why Black food is UNRIVALED.
HOT TIP: If you want to make the perfect Awaze, take 3 tablespoons of berbere, ½ a cup of Teg or red wine, the juice of 1 lime, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and warm water for texture. It should be like pancake mix.
Rice - NIGERIAN Jollof. ‘Nough said. Online recipes don’t do it justice so I (Jumoke) won’t bother.
Starch - Can we all take a moment for the goodness that is starch? Yam! Cassava! Yucca! Plantain! Sweet Potato! Is a world without sweet potato pie a world that is worth living in? Can you contemplate a life without pounded yam?
We know the list above is very vegetarian-heavy because we both don’t eat meat, but at one time, we PARTOOK. Special shoutout out to chicken, goat, oxtail, saltfish, bacalhau, the swine, meat pies, and catfish!
Why does it matter?
Food binds the diaspora together with deep social and cultural traditions that traverse continents and date back generations.
Enslaved Africans, for example, brought with them methods for using spices to flavor and preserve foods and using plantain and other sheaths to cook meals to North and South America.
A closer look: read this on how Slavery and African food shaped American food, especially in the south.
What can my Black-Ass do?
Shit is crazy out here. Revel in your Blackness and eat good food.
Try the recipes linked above. We haven’t tried and vetted all of these, but we did try to pick recipe videos featuring Black hands.
II. Other Things
Save Ben’s, one of many small businesses failed by the small business loan program.
Chaotic times call for chaotic content and Wendy is here to provide with her lamb lollipops and painted Betty Boop statue.
Shout out to Isaiah’s mama for keeping young Karen in check.
Teddy Riley can’t use Instagram to save his life, but he’s still a legend.
What say you, Cory and Topanga?
Read this beautiful piece on loneliness and COVID-19 from The Root’s Danielle Belton.
100% of St. Lucia’s COVID-19 patients have recovered per the Chief Medical Officer.
RHOP is delayed so at least B. Scott came with all of the RHOA drama.
This Spotify Verzuz playlist of Babyface vs Teddy Riley is 10/10.
Our Black-Ass song(s) of the week (Jumoke):
Nene Leakes is a terrible person. But this song, as the youth say, slaps.
Things we are looking forward to / things we are not looking forward to:
I (Jumoke) look forward to finishing this not good, very cringey show that I cannot stop watching, One More Shot, Please. It’s Sex in the City in Mumbai and the creators owe Indian women an apology.
I (Mitu) was already a Toni Braxton stan, but I look forward to more tweets to come from this legend in music and COMEDY.
lll. Text from a Black-Ass Dad
Be weary of delivery bags, y’all!
Stay Black, thrive and eat well. We’ll hit your inbox next on May 11.