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Published Feb. 9, 2005 in The Albany Times Union
By Stacey Morris Special to The Times Union Albany - Ella Robertson’s memories of her family’s childhood farm in the deep south aren’t just sentimental – they’re full of flavor: Fields dotted with verdant heads of cabbage, towering cornstalks and rows of okra poking through the soil. In the distance, the pecan tree, waving its leafy branches in the breeze while giving shelter to flocks of chickens. These weren’t just picture-perfect elements of farm life – but ingredients for many a mouthwatering dinner that Robertson remembers vividly from her days growing up during the 30’s in Moultrie, Ga. From her mother, Viola Campbell, the young Robertson learned the art of southern cooking, also known as Soul Food. And nearly 70 years later, after passing the tradition on to her children and grandchildren, the Albany resident is still cooking collard greens and ham hocks, buttermilk biscuits and black-eyed peas; and her perenniel favorite: French-fried chicken. The term soul food has evolved to become synonymous with African American cuisine. Origins are traced back to indigenous foods of Africa like yams, okra, legumes, pumpkin, watermelon and leafy greens. These indigenous ingredients were said to have made their way across the Atlantic during slave trading times and eventually blended with food rations given to slaves in the United States that included cornmeal, molasses, meat ‘discards’ such as pigs feet and ham hocks and regional fruits like peaches and berries. It’s a geographical food connection that Skidmore College junior Arminda Nicol knows well. “My mom is from West Africa and southern food is based on that so I grew up with red beans and rice, chitlins, sweet potatoes and yams and okra, lots of okra,” said Nicol, who’s home is in Colorado. Nowadays (cholesterol concerns notwithstanding) Soul Food’s repertorie has grown to include macaroni and cheese, sweet potato pie, spare ribs, cheese grits, fried chicken, fruit cobblers, pound cake and biscuits. Ask anyone who’s a fan of the cuisine and two reasons tend to be cited: the comfort factor and flavor unique to Soul Food. “It’s associated with Sunday dinners and togetherness,” said Nicol. “It’s also a kind of food that fills you up really fast, it’s very satisfying.” Both Robertson and Nicol say there’s nothing quite like the oral tradition through which the cooking secrets of Soul Food are passed down from one generation to the next. By the time Robertson’s nine sisters and three brothers reached the age of 11, their mother had them thoroughly schooled in the art of cooking collards, sweet potato pie, buttermilk biscuits, fried chicken and black-eyed peas. “My mother used to make fried corn, she’d cut it right off the cob and fry it in butter or grease if we didn’t have any butter,” said Robertson. “And she made chicken all kinds of ways: French-fried chicken, ordinary fried chicken, chicken and dumplings.” “I learned from watching my mother. It was nothing that was forced on me, I just loved to watch her put ingredients into a pot,” remembered Nicol, who now counts macaroni and cheese and corn bread as her favorite dishes to concoct. As good as it all sounds, finding elements of Soul Food and southern cooking in the northeast can be a challenge. There are a few restaurants and chains in the region with menus that feature Soul Food staples on their menus. Popeye’s Fried Chicken is Cajun spiced and offers side dishes of macaroni and cheese and dirty rice (red beans and rice). Albany’s Clayton’s Restaurant on Washington Avenue serves primarily Caribbean and Spanish food but has a daily lunch buffet that features cornbread and red beans; there’s also fried chicken on Mondays and Fridays. Long John Silver offers the exotic (to Yankees anyway) hush puppy. Most notably, there’s Hattie’s in Saratoga Springs. The century-old institution is a slice of “Fried Green Tomatoes” brought to life with their siren call of southern fried chicken, catfish, collard greens, biscuits and pecan and sweet potato pies. Aside from that, getting a Soul Food fix north of the Mason-Dixon line isn’t the easiest thing to do – which makes cooking at home a necessity – especially if you’re a ‘transplant’ whose desire for the cuisine is as routine as morning coffee. Like Ella Robertson, Glens Falls resident Hazel Richardson grew up in the south. “I love grits for breakfast…grits with liver and gravy,” she said. “You ask for grits here and they look at you funny; they think you’re only supposed to eat potatoes up here.” For Richardson, who grew up in Mississippi and Louisiana, an ideal meal consists of collard greens with salt pork, fried chicken or spare ribs, corn bread and sweet potato pie. “I don’t cook fancy, I just like good, solid food,” she said. “I learned from my grandmother and my aunt. So many things you can’t get here, so I substitute and get what I can.” Though most markets carry collard or mustard greens in their produce section, buying canned okra is often a necessity. But there’s one thing Richardson won’t compromise on: crab. “I don’t like those big crabs, long as my arm. If someone tries to put them in my gumbo I’ll hurt ‘em,” she said. “I only use blue crabs or crawfish for my gumbo.” Richardson cooks some type of Soul Food nearly every day – partly because she misses southern cooking and partly because her family can’t get enough of it. “It goes pretty fast when I make it,” she said. “Everyone wants some.” Nicol said that irresistibility is an element of the cuisine that’s inescapable. “Hearing aunts and uncles talk around the table, they would say it’s food that gets into your soul. People make it with love, to provide for their family and give them the best food possible,” she said. “It’s food that’s so good, it makes your soul happy.” But even so, Ella Richardson is content to live a northern life. “I miss the food, but I wouldn’t want to live down south again,” she said. “I can’t stand the heat.” A Soul Food dinner, “Food for the Heart and Soul” will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, February 11 at the FalstaffBuilding on the SkidmoreCollege campus in Saratoga Springs. The dinner is open to the public and sponsored by Ujima, a cultural diversity group at the college that celebrates African American and Caribbean American cultures. The cost is $5 a plate or $7 for two. Reservations can be made by e-mailing your information to m_colon@skidmore.edu .
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