My paternal grandmother Ruby, a pragmatic woman of faith, just celebrated her 96th birthday.
She grew up in Eufaula, Oklahoma, where her grandfather Jiles operated the family farm.
My grandmothers are not alone in the fight against diabetes.
Courtesy Photos. Design: Tambra Stevenson.
The longer someone has diabetes, the chances of heart disease increase.
And those stats increase sharply if you’re Black, due tosystemic racismthat affects social and economic conditions.
This was without any acknowledgment of the inherent healthiness of many traditional Black foods.
Courtesy Photo. Design: Tambra Stevenson.
For me that meant returning to the Motherland.
I felt belonged, transformed and renewed in my soul.
Black food is a shared story of resistance, resilience, restoration and liberation.
Tambra Stevenson
Tambra Stevenson
Read More:What is The African Heritage Diet?
If you want to go far, go together."
If we want to heal our communities, we begin with healing our meals together.
Brittany Conerly
Resisting a Black Food Monolithic Narrative
Black food is constantly evolving.
It’s not monolithic or stuck in one place.
Black food culture is as expansive as continental Africa.
Tambra Stevenson
So a narrow lens is insufficient in telling the story of Black food.
I snacked on boiled peanuts while in the Black Belt region of Georgia.
Prior to that, I made a pit stop in the Appalachians, enjoying pawpaw fruit and sorghum dishes.
Brittany Conerly
Now Black Bostonian-ownedThe Pearlrestaurant is shaping Black food there.
Collectively the regional scene is changing the narrative.
View Recipe:Collard & Rice Dumplings with Mamba 9 Sauce
And we can’t forget about soul food.
Tambra Stevenson
The name “soul food” holds significance to the Black community and to me.
So it’s no surprise to see the villainization and omission of soul food’s contributions to American cuisine.
That lens is shifting as I throw in.
Brittany Conerly
They are not alone in this crusade.
“We have Black people believing that they can’t eat collard greens,” says Adeeb.
“But the reality is our foods can be healthy, tasty and beautiful.”
Tambra Stevenson
They gave her this tea when she wasn’t feeling well.
When she had a cold, her father, like mine, would make chicken noodle soup.
Except hers added a Jamaican twist with dumplings.
Photo: Getty Images. Design: Tambra Stevenson.
In doing so, we elevated our consciousness and our relationships with food and one another.
It’s powerfully nutritious and delicious and naturally meets the guidelines experts recommend for supporting good health.
Photo: Getty Images.
Design: Tambra Stevenson.
Food is identity, power and medicine.
Other food and nutrition activists, like Feller and Adeeb, agree.
“Cultural foods can maximize the cultural wealth that can improve structural oppression,” says Odoms-Young.
So, how can we advance Black food as medicine as part of reparations?
I hope you do too.
Ultimately, our stories, like our food, are our medicine.
