LikeTheDew.com

What Are We To Do With Black Culture? Part 1:  The Destruction from Within

“Grandad, you can’t serve this kind of food to people. It could cause — DEATH!”

That’s what Huey said to his grandfather on an episode of “The Boondocks” called “The Itis”. For those not familiar with the term, or with the cartoon, the ‘itis” is the condition of sleepiness caused by eating the typical soul food dinner. After a meal at the Freeman household, the white banker – Mr. Onceler–decided it would be a good idea for Grandad to open a restaurant where he could serve such dishes as “pork flavored broccoli,” and “The Luther” (“A full pound of burger patty, covered in cheese, real onion, five strips of bacon, sandwiched between… TWO DONUTS”).

Maybe your household eating habits aren’t quite that extreme. (I would hope your eating habits aren’t that extreme.) Still, our daily diet of products laden with pork, corn, sugar and salt has not served us well as a population at all. The following statistics on diabetes are quoted in Food Choice and Obesity in Black America: Creating a New Cultural Diet, by Eric J. Bailey:

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the following statistics illustrate the magnitude of this disease among African Americans.

• 2.8 million African Americans have diabetes.
• On average, African Americans are twice as likely to have diabetes as white Americans of similar age. Approximately 13 percent of all African Americans have diabetes.
• African Americans with diabetes are more likely to develop diabetes complications and experience greater disability from the complications than white Americans with diabetes.
• Death rates for people with diabetes are 27 percent higher for African Americans compared with whites.

Huey: “This food is destructive.”
Grandad: “This food is our CULTURE.”
Huey: “Then the culture is destructive!”

Because so many of us are obese, cancer rates, heart disease, hypertension and stroke are also more common among black people than among whites. Because of the dismal statistics, it has been predicted that our generation may be the first to have a shorter life expectancy than our parents.

That is why I subtitled this post “The Destruction from Within.” Our food is literally us, and we continue to eat it because it is “our culture.” Our culture derived from African tradition transplanted to America by way of slavery. Because the resources given our ancestors in the slave quarters were limited, they had to make substitutions that were not always the healthiest. For example, instead of the palm oil that often flavored their foods on the African Continent and was rich in vitamins and antioxidants, slaves had to make do with pork fat, which was rich in nothing but –well, FAT! They had to substitute corn for many of their staple grains, and there was no substitute for the many nuts that they used to put in their dishes.

Our ancestors had to “make do” with whatever was left after the masters had their share: pig intestines (chitterlings), stomachs (maws), feet, tails and snouts. They ate that way out of necessity, to survive. What is our excuse? And what can be done to change this habit?

Well, for one thing, we need to know that “pork flavored vegetables count as pork” (another line from Huey). Our vegetables can be steamed, boiled, even eaten raw. And there is no need to flavor your greens with ham hocks or bacon. Salt and pepper work really well.

We can park farther from the store and walk more, we can eat chicken sausage instead of andouille (a Louisiana staple). Use brown rice in our dishes, no sugar in the yams (why do we need to candy everything?), and use wholegrain flour to make our pancakes and biscuits. There are so many simple things that we can do to preserve our culture, and ourselves. Small modifications so that we don’t continue to suffer destruction from within.

Note: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for the agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of LikeTheDew.com. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click here to report a violation.

3 Responses to “The Destruction from Within”

1. ariel harris says:

   November 27, 2009 at 5:44 am

   well said! and” soul food” as known from slavery times,was not soul food….merely a tradition of giving scraps as you said. time for new healthy traditions. destruction from within can actually change with, we are what we eat. from diabetes to autoimmune diseases, our foods are so toxic, our bodies are on high alert. and we need these changes to start early..in school cafeterias and nursery school snacks. grow gardens in every school, and for exercise have the kids harvest their own seeds.

   Reply
2. Will Cantrell says:

   November 27, 2009 at 12:27 pm

   Maisha, this is a well written reminder that I will take to heart. I need a reminder—often. I am sure that I am not the only one. Thanks, Will.

   Reply
3. Maisha White says:

   November 27, 2009 at 3:54 pm

   Thank you both for your comments.

   It was very gratifying to sit down to a porkless Thanksgiving dinner at my grandmother’s house yesterday. She laughed when I showed her this article, and she told everyone about her doctor’s comments that her sugar levels were the best they’d been in a long time when I had to cook for her after she broke her ankle. Now that she’s getting around and cooking for herself, she’s still implementing the dietary changes that I introduced. Instead of the jars of lard that she used to keep to fry fish, chicken, etc with, there are now bottles of vegetable oil, olive oil, and safflower oil in the cabinet. Where there used to be Evangeline white bread on the table for sandwiches, it’s been replaced by 100% whole wheat. She bakes her sweet potatoes, skin on, and eats them without butter or sugar.

   @ Ariel, I love the idea of a school garden. I think that not only would that contribute to a better diet for students all over the country, but it would also save the schools and the USDA money in the long run if tax dollars could be spent on seeds and water instead of industrial sized cans of corn.

   @ Will, we all need these reminders from time to time. Trust me, you’re not the only one.

   Reply

Leave a Comment

Click here to cancel reply.

What is CAPTCHA and why do I have to enter it to post a comment?

Quick answer: Look at the picture (below) that contains letters. Type those letters in the CAPTCHA Code box.

Longer explanation: Our comment system now requires a CAPTCHA test (an acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart" for all comments (unless you have registered and are logged-in). CAPTCHA is an image of letters that is dynamically generated (click the speaker icon to hear it or the arrows to load another test that may be easier to read). The letters, because they're part of an image and not text (e.g. text that you could cut and paste), are difficult for a spambot or other computer program to read. Yet, a person has little trouble reading the letters in a captcha image and then typing them into the form. Using a captcha test on our website is a great way to ensure, for instance, that a person and not a spambot is filling out a web form (we used to get 100 or so spam comments every day which our volunteers had to wade through). Also, a captcha can make it difficult for a person to continuously resubmit form information and overwhelm our comment function. If you hate CAPTCHA, just register on LikeTheDew.com and login (registration is on the bottom left of our home page) and you won't be stopped by CAPTCHA.

CAPTCHA Code

You can add images to your comment by clicking here.

Notify me of follow-up comments via email.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website