soul food
Americannoun
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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.
-
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.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of soul food
An Americanism dating back to 1960–65
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the last few years, the entertainment industry has shifted toward covering enslaved people’s artistic and culinary creations, as in the Netflix soul food documentary series “High on the Hog.”
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2026
L.A.’s legacy of Black-owned restaurants includes neighborhood spots in Little Ethiopia, California soul food in West Adams and Inglewood’s first wine bar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
In part, it’s a time capsule, recording the rise in the popularity of soul food, especially in northern cities, that was coincident with the Second Great Migration happening during this period.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
The culturally rich Black-majority city is also home to plenty of Black-owned restaurants, serving up everything from soul food, Burundian and Nigerian cuisines to sandwiches and steaks.
From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2025
“They used to work at a soul food restaurant up there, so I know a little something about it.”
From "The Boy in the Black Suit" by Jason Reynolds
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
