What did slaves cook?

Maize, rice, peanuts, yams and dried beans were found as important staples of slaves on some plantations in West Africa before and after European contact. Keeping the traditional “stew” cooking could have been a form of subtle resistance to the owner's control.

What kind of food did the slaves eat?

Weekly food rations -- usually corn meal, lard, some meat, molasses, peas, greens, and flour -- were distributed every Saturday. Vegetable patches or gardens, if permitted by the owner, supplied fresh produce to add to the rations. Morning meals were prepared and consumed at daybreak in the slaves' cabins.

What did black slaves cook?

They roasted meats, made jellies, cooked puddings, and crafted desserts, preparing several meals a day for the white family. They also had to feed every free person who passed through the plantation. If a traveler showed up, day or night, bells would ring for the enslaved cook to prepare food.

How did slaves make food?

Slaves could roast potatoes in hot ashes while wrapped in leaves, like they would with cornbread or ash-cake, or cook them over the fire with other foods. Nellie Smith, a former slave from Georgia, remembered her grandmother would bake potatoes alongside a roast.

What did slaves do for fun?

During their limited leisure hours, particularly on Sundays and holidays, slaves engaged in singing and dancing. Though slaves used a variety of musical instruments, they also engaged in the practice of "patting juba" or the clapping of hands in a highly complex and rhythmic fashion.

The Man Who Relives Slave History Through Food (HBO)

What did slaves eat lunch?

Today's meal is kitchen pepper rabbit, hominy and okra soup. This would have been a typical meal for an enslaved person — different versions of okra soup were eaten throughout the South, corn was a staple and rabbit would have been hunted by slaves and shared among dozens of people.

What did slaves drink?

in which slaves obtained alcohol outside of the special occasions on which their masters allowed them to drink it. Some female house slaves were assigned to brew cider, beer, and/or brandy on their plantations.

How often did slaves get food?

Slaves usually received a monthly allowance of corn meal and salt-herrings. Frederick Douglass received one bushel of corn meal a month plus eight pounds of pork or fish. Some plantation owners gave their slaves a small piece of land, a truck-patch, where they could grow vegetables.

What did slaves do in the winter?

In his 1845 Narrative, Douglass wrote that slaves celebrated the winter holidays by engaging in activities such as "playing ball, wrestling, running foot-races, fiddling, dancing, and drinking whiskey" (p.

Did slaves eat fried chicken?

Fried chicken, the iconic dish of American slavery

And there was no shortage of fried chicken in the houses, consumed almost on a daily basis, since subject to a rapid deterioration: there were no refrigerators at the time, so the meat had to be cooked and eaten immediately.

How did slaves sleep?

Most slaves' cabins would have been outfitted with pallets for the adults to sleep on—children often slept on the floor—and perhaps wooden boxes or stools for sitting. There might be some rudimentary utensils used for cooking, and bowls or gourds from which to eat.

What kind of food is soul food?

How much did slaves get paid a day?

Let us say that the slave, He/she, began working in 1811 at age 11 and worked until 1861, giving a total of 50 years labor. For that time, the slave earned $0.80 per day, 6 days per week. This equals $4.80 per week, times 52 weeks per year, which equals pay of $249.60 per year.

What age did slaves start working?

Yes, enslaved children were forced to labor on this plantation. Boys and girls under ten assisted in the care of the very young enslaved children or worked in and around the main house. From the age of ten, they were assigned to tasks—in the fields, in the Nailery and Textile Workshop, or in the house.

What did slaves do to get punished?

Slaves were punished by whipping, shackling, hanging, beating, burning, mutilation, branding, rape, and imprisonment. Punishment was often meted out in response to disobedience or perceived infractions, but sometimes abuse was performed to re-assert the dominance of the master (or overseer) over the slave.

How long did slaves work a day?

During the winter, slaves toiled for around eight hours each day, while in the summer the workday might have been as long as fourteen hours.

Did slaves work 7 days a week?

House slaves worked seven days a week. They also had to be alert at any hour of the day or night. Slaves working in a cotton plantation.

What foods did slaves bring to America?

They brought the kola nut – one of the main parts of Coca-Cola – to what is now the United States. West Africans chewed the nut for its caffeine. Enslaved Africans also brought watermelon, okra, yams, black-eyed peas and some peppers. These foods are commonly eaten in the U.S. today.

What did the slaves eat on the ship?

At best, captives were fed beans, corn, yams, rice, and palm oil. Slaves were fed one meal a day with water, if at all. When food was scarce, slaveholders would get priority over the slaves.

How did slaves get alcohol?

During this time, owners made bets that an enslaved African could drink more whiskey than any other. They encouraged enslaved Africans to get drunk and they discour- aged them from doing anything that might be viewed as construc- tive. Large numbers of enslaved Africans drank until they passed out.

What is a traditional black meal?

Traditional African American comfort foods include homemade macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, red beans and rice, cornbread, seasoned greens, mashed potatoes and gravy, and ice-cold sweet tea.

How many calories did slaves eat?

Through the analysis of census documents and other data and focusing on cotton plantations, they concluded that the slave diet provided 4,185 calories daily, calorically adequate by “modern” (1964) standards.

What did slaves do for work?

Many slaves living in cities worked as domestics, but others worked as blacksmiths, carpenters, shoemakers, bakers, or other tradespeople. Often, slaves were hired out by their masters, for a day or up to several years. Sometimes slaves were allowed to hire themselves out.

Why was Sunday dinner important to the slaves?

After slavery was abolished, as African Americans migrated to the north, they continued gathering their families together on Sundays for food and fellowship. Sunday dinner was a special family occasion and everyone was expected to be there with no exceptions.

How long did slaves live?

Some estimates placed the average longevity of Blacks at 21.4 years of age in 1850, with the average longevity for Whites at age 25.5. The combination of lower living standards, greater exposure, heavier labor, and poorer medical care gave slaves a higher mortality rate than whites.