Every Nation Has Its Dish

Black Bodies and Black Food in Twentieth-Century America

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, African-American Studies, Food & Drink, International, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book Every Nation Has Its Dish by Jennifer Jensen Wallach, The University of North Carolina Press
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Author: Jennifer Jensen Wallach ISBN: 9781469645223
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: November 13, 2018
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Jennifer Jensen Wallach
ISBN: 9781469645223
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: November 13, 2018
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

Jennifer Jensen Wallach's nuanced history of black foodways across the twentieth century challenges traditional narratives of "soul food" as a singular style of historical African American cuisine. Wallach investigates the experiences and diverse convictions of several generations of African American activists, ranging from Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois to Mary Church Terrell, Elijah Muhammad, and Dick Gregory. While differing widely in their approaches to diet and eating, they uniformly made the cultivation of "proper" food habits a significant dimension of their work and their conceptions of racial and national belonging. Tracing their quests for literal sustenance brings together the race, food, and intellectual histories of America.

Directly linking black political activism to both material and philosophical practices around food, Wallach frames black identity as a bodily practice, something that conscientious eaters not only thought about but also did through rituals and performances of food preparation, consumption, and digestion. The process of choosing what and how to eat, Wallach argues, played a crucial role in the project of finding one's place as an individual, as an African American, and as a citizen.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Jennifer Jensen Wallach's nuanced history of black foodways across the twentieth century challenges traditional narratives of "soul food" as a singular style of historical African American cuisine. Wallach investigates the experiences and diverse convictions of several generations of African American activists, ranging from Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois to Mary Church Terrell, Elijah Muhammad, and Dick Gregory. While differing widely in their approaches to diet and eating, they uniformly made the cultivation of "proper" food habits a significant dimension of their work and their conceptions of racial and national belonging. Tracing their quests for literal sustenance brings together the race, food, and intellectual histories of America.

Directly linking black political activism to both material and philosophical practices around food, Wallach frames black identity as a bodily practice, something that conscientious eaters not only thought about but also did through rituals and performances of food preparation, consumption, and digestion. The process of choosing what and how to eat, Wallach argues, played a crucial role in the project of finding one's place as an individual, as an African American, and as a citizen.

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