The History of Southern Black Soul Food

Soul food is more than a plate of fried chicken, greens, cornbread, and macaroni and cheese. It is a story of Black American family, survival, creativity, and tradition.

For generations, Black cooks across the South turned everyday ingredients into deeply flavorful meals that nourished families and brought communities together. Through skill, resourcefulness, and a strong sense of tradition, they helped shape what the country now recognizes as Southern cooking.

As millions of African Americans moved out of the rural South during the Great Migration, they carried their recipes, techniques and food traditions with them.

Greens, cornbread, fried chicken, black-eyed peas, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes and other Southern dishes traveled into cities across the North, Midwest and West.

These foods became a connection to home for people building new lives far away from the places where they had grown up. The Smithsonian notes that Southern Black migrants helped spread dishes such as greens throughout the country.

The term soul food became widely embraced during the Black cultural pride movements of the 1960s and 1970s. It gave a name to the food Black families had been preparing, sharing, and preserving for generations.

As Black families moved from the South to cities across the country, they carried their recipes and cooking traditions with them. Soul food became a connection to home, family, and memory.

Soul food also became a way to gather. It showed up at Sunday dinners, church functions, family reunions, holidays, repasts, and celebrations. These meals did more than feed people—they created community, comfort, and connection.

Many recipes were never written down. They were taught by watching, tasting, and learning when the food looked, smelled, and felt just right.

That is the heart of Favorine’s Flavor of Soul.

It is about honoring Mama Favorine’s Louisiana roots, preserving the lessons passed down in the kitchen, and sharing that legacy through every meal and every seasoning.

Made with love. Seasoned with soul. It’s all in the wrist.