Sunday, December 14, 2014

Mousy Tongue's Taste Buds Find Truth, Facts and Reality Unpalatable

When I find ignorant (or dishonest) people on comment threads equating the Confederacy with the Third Reich, there's a pretty good chance I'll acquaint them with the stark differences between the two, thusly:
There were nine million Jews in Europe before the Third Reich -- three million afterward. By contrast, the black population in the United States, before the war, during it, and afterward -- both during slavery and after emancipation -- grew at basically the same rate as the USA's white population.
There were no concentration camps that slaves were herded into in the Confederate states. Inmates in death camps were worked to death and/or given rations scientifically calculated to starve them in three months. By constrast, American slaves ate much the same thing white people ate -- at least, in the South. What they ate is called "soul food" today and it's viewed very positively -- tasty and nutritious, if rather high in starch.

Laws in various states mandated that slaveowners support aged slaves who were no longer able to work and that pregnant slaves be given lighter duties.
Apparently Mousy follows me to these threads and reports back to her buddies at Simpson's flog.  If memory serves, she has mentioned this twice. "American slaves ate much the same thing white people ate -- at least, in the South. What they ate is called "soul food" today and it's viewed very positively -- tasty and nutritious, if rather high in starch."
Apparently she has a problem with the claim, although I don't know why. Maybe she doesn't believe it, or doesn't want to believe it. But the information certainly doesn't originate with me.

Some tidbits from the entry on Soul Food at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_food

The term soul food became popular in the 1960s. The origins of soul food, however, are much older and can be traced back to Africa....Foods such as rice, sorghum (known by some Europeans as "guinea corn"), and okra — all common elements of West African cuisine — were introduced to the Americas as a result of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. They became dietary staples among enslaved Africans. They also comprise an important part of the cuisine of the American south, in general.

Southern Native American culture is the cornerstone of the south's cuisine. From their cultures came one of the main staples of the Southern diet: corn (maize)...

Impoverished whites and blacks in the South prepared many of the same dishes stemming from the soul tradition, but styles of preparation sometimes varied. Traditionally-prepared soul foods tend to be very high in starch, fat, sodium, cholesterol, and calories.

Isolated ingredients of a soul food diet do have pronounced health benefits. Collard and other greens are rich sources of several vitamins , minerals fiber, and small amounts of omega-3 fatty acids.  Peas, rice, and legumes are excellent, inexpensive sources of protein; they also contain important vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Sweet potatoes are a tremendous source of beta carotene and trace minerals.


Of course, maybe she'll reject this information since it came from Wikipedia ... although the article is abundantly footnoted, if she's interested in sources. In any case, the article validates what I said.

3 comments :

  1. Oh the internet trolls are all for sources...that is until you actually produce one. Then they go all out attacking both the source and the messenger because both reject their prejudiced mindsets. Its a cozy little bubble that Leftist internet fascists put themselves into. So its little wonder they don't like their dream world shattered by truth.

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  2. I'm sure these experts on Southern cooking would argue that sawmill gravy contains actual sawdust. Why not? They call watered down tomato soup "chili" and pecans "pee-cans." As an aside, all of us kids, way back when, called 'em "becans" because our young pallets couldn't quite get the "pu" part right. The plate in the picture above, is what we refer to as supper around Hobbiton Farm, not "Southern", because it's just normal food we've ate all our lives. Mrs. Owen and I would be disappointed if the local café served any less.

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  3. and they call those of us who live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast Cajuns. Go figure.

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