soul food

[sohl food]

noun

1. traditional African American cooking, originally developed by enslaved Black people in the rural South and including such foods as chitterlings, pig’s feet, collard greens, and cornbread.

   The cuisine of New Orleans is heavily influenced by Creole and Cajun cooking as well as soul food.

   Soul food is grounded in the ways African Americans have always fashioned a way out of no way, taking scraps and creating a food tradition that has stood the test of time.

2. the traditional cooking of a specified culture.

   Kimchi, the magical soul food of Korea, is popular worldwide.

   We talked with the restaurant’s founders about Ashkenazi soul food and the misunderstood gefilte fish.

soul food

noun

1. informal,  food, such as chitterlings or yams, traditionally eaten by Black people in the southern US

Other Word Forms

• soul-food adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of soul food¹

An Americanism dating back to 1960–65