Food

Cultural Unity

As has been written, specific foods, such as okra, and food preparation practices provide evidence of African influence in virtually all world cuisines. Archaeologists have used food to document ancient African agricultural practices as well as the trade of these food stuffs among ethnic groups showing inter-African influence dating back thousands of years. Foods like akee, a pear-shaped fruit, may have originated in West Africa, but are now eaten not only throughout the African continent, but also in the Caribbean and other parts of the Diaspora.

Likewise, the naming of foods in the Diaspora also indicates an African cultural legacy. Gumbo as an okra-based stew popular in the Gulf Coast of the United States shares it root word with the Brazilian term for okra, quiabo, both of which are African in origin. Food in Brazilian spiritual houses, or ter-reiros, still relies on African preparation styles and recipes. For example, the Yoruba deity Oyâ still enjoys the bean fritters or acarajé in Brazilian Candomblé, which she began eating in Nigeria as akarâ. Ogun, the Yoruba deity of iron and patron of blacksmiths, enjoys beans and rice in Africa, as well as in North and South America. Beyond providing this evidence of African cultural unity, food also provides information on traditional African spiritual beliefs.

Ritual Practice

Food is a critical component in many African traditional ritual practices. These practices, and those based on them, have found their way via the migrations of Africans to all parts of the world. Food in this use becomes a tool to manipulate energy by which the believer's desires are fulfilled. For example, in North America, to catch a murderer, the believer will quickly place an egg in the victim's hand so that the murderer will not be able to escape the area. Likewise, the preparation of cleansing baths used to cleanse a believer of negative energy in other African populations often includes food ingredients such as crushed egg shell, milk, and coconut. Traditionally, kola nuts are not only exchanged as a sign of friendship, but are also used as divining tools and as offerings to ancestral and other spirits.

Some foods are reserved for their ritual use and are seldom, if ever, consumed outside of their ritualized contexts; such foods include dog, traditionally offered to Ogun, and ram, which is usually presented to Shango, the god of thunder and lightning. Other foods, including cornmeal and grits, can be used to determine the age of a particular deity. For instance, the fact that Oshun, a Nigerian riverine goddess, enjoys corn that was not brought into Africa until around 1500 AD supports the belief that she is the youngest of the Yoruba's spiritual pantheon.

...