National Soul Food Month

Jennifer Woodard Maderazo / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

June is National Soul Food Month in the United States.

Soul food is a type of American cooking associated with the African-American culture and related to the food of the Southern United States.

The term, and the food, became popular in the 1960s, although the constituents of the food are older and can be traced back to African, in particular West African, and European cooking. There are also strong components of Native American cuisine, which influences Southern American cooking and by proxy soul food.

Soul food does not tend to be the healthiest food around, as it is high in a number of substances that aren't conducive to good health. Although individual components can be and are healthy, many are not and the preparation is often unhealthy. Some typical dishes are fried chicken, bread fried okra and cornbread, but there are many others.