Soul Food for Health and Nursing (RECIPE)

Zakiyyah w/ newborn Queen Aminah Samah

Many people think of Soul Food as this fat laden, greasy, fried, and pork-filled unhealthy food.  One of our goals here at Soul Food Connection is to help dispel that myth and provide you with the knowledge that Soul Food is actually healthy and it all depends on how you cook it.  Today I am featuring a recipe by my good friend Zakiyyah Saleem who is nursing her five month old baby while providing her with the BEST nutrients possible.

Curried Kale, Collard, and Sweet Potato Soup.

Curry: Curry powder is a zesty mix of medicinally potent spices like turmeric, cardamom, chilli, cumin, and coriander that does wonders for your health. Some spices, especially the hot ones, contain phytochemicals that averts cell damage and other chronic ailments. What more, curry powder is believed to be good for your brain, boost memory and protect against Alzheimer disease and cancer too. 

Kale: Kale is rich in calcium, lutein, iron, and vitamins A, C, and K. Kale has seven times the beta-carotene of broccoli and ten times more lutein. Kale is rich in vitamin C, not to mention the much-needed fiber so lacking in the daily diet of processed food eating Americans.  The "Icing on the Kale" are the natural occuring all-important phytochemicals sulforaphane and indoles which research suggests may protect against cancer.  Let's not forget the all-important antioxidant vitamin E.  

Healthy Queen Aminah Samah at 3 months.
Happy and healthy mama Zakiyyah too!

Collard: Collard greens play a major role in promoting a healthy lung because of the high amounts of vitamin A.  They also have folate and vitamin B6 and are high in riboflavin (a vitamin B) which is one of the most imortant antioxidants in the body, helping protect lipids like cholesterol from free radical attack. Collards also contain niacin which helps counteract cardio-vascular defects. This vitamin is known to reduce high cholesterol levels and thus, helps prevent conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and atherosclerosis.  They also help neutralize many side effects of menopause.

Sweet Potato: Sweet potato contains carbohydrate, protein, vitamins and minerals. It is rich in iron and is good in treating anemia. Rich in carbohydrates, the natural sugar or glucose from carbohydrate is the main nutrient of the brain, and it also provides energy for the body. Great for digestion; Sweet potato has a carminative effect on the body: it expels excess gas from the stomach as flatulence.  And so much more... 

The Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale & 1 bunch of collards, both cut into 1 inch pieces

Curried Kale, Collard, and Sweet Potato Soup.

3 cups of diced sweet potatoes or yams or both for color variety (about 3 small sweet potatoes)
1 small or half of 1 medium onion diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 chicken or vegetable boullion cube or 1 can of broth
1 tsp each of garlic powder and onion powder
1 tbsp of curry powder
2 dashes of nutmeg
6 cups of water (or 5 if you use the can of chicken/veg broth)
1 cup of soy milk (or the milk of your choice)
salt to taste
4 dashes of Louisiana hot sauce
canola oil (or your fave oil)
Although I did not, you can add crushed red pepper for some heat.

How to bring it together:
Cover the bottom of your pot with the oil and toss in the onions. Salt the onions a little bit to help them release some of their water. Cook the onions on just below medium heat until they are translucent. Do not brown the onions. Put the sweet potatoes in with the onions. Add the garlic, onion and curry powders. Cook together for about 12 minutes while stirring frequently. Add all of the greens to the pot along with the 2 shakes of nutmeg. Stir together and cook for about 5 mins. Add the bouillion cube (or can of broth) and the water. Taste and add salt. Taste again. Stir and turn the heat up to medium high. Let cook for about 20 mins or untill the sweet potatoes are soft. Taste and make sure that you are comfortable with the amount of salt in your dish, add more if you need it. Add your milk and stir. Cook for about 5 more minutes then, ENJOY!

For some variety, add a fried egg on top of this bowl of soup for some richness and protein to boot =o)

Queen Aminah Samah with her father Courtney Troupe.

As you can see, Queen Aminah Samah and her family are healthy and happy.  Eat food for your soul and treat your body and nurse your baby with the best nutrients possible.  Soul Food is healthy and is NOT an EPIDEMIC.  

Zakiyyah is from San Diego, CA where she is blessed with being a stay at home mom to baby Queen Aminah Samah.  She's a self-taught chef who enjoys cooking for friends, family, and even does some catering from time-to-time.  Her favorite food is Soul Food because it's one of her happiest childhood memories & she loves to re-create her own version of many childhood dishes.  Looks like she's already building memories for her gorgeous daughter!  Add her on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Zakiyyah-Saleem/875525130

Share your recipes and photos with me for our next feature: soulfood_rene@yahoo.com

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Written by: Rene Couret, Owner of Soul Food Connection. Online Soul Food Directory.  

Soul Food Connection (TM) is an online database for people to search for and find soul food restaurants in their area.  Please follow us: 

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5 Best NYC 'Fine Dining' Soul Food Restaurants 2012

Recently, my sensibilities were challenged by a "Best Of" article on Soul Food restaurants in NYC in 2011.  As a connossieur of fine cuisine, I was disappointed to find them list Amy Ruth's as their #1 pick.  Full disclosure - I've only eaten at one of the spots on their list.  However, that one spot was Amy Ruth's and I found their food to be just ... average.  So for them to name Amy Ruth's as their #1 pick leads me to question their exposure, at best; and their taste, at worst.  As a rebuttal, I'd like to share my 5 picks for Fine Dining Soul Food in NYC.

THE PINK TEA CUP - currently being relocated and not due to open until Valentine's Day 2012, but WORTH THE WAIT because I guarantee you will FALL IN LOVE with them!  

MOBAY UPTOWN - live music, sexy interior, and food to die for, For straight-up carnivores ...and vegetarians alike!  

BILLIE'S BLACK - a fun Harlem joint with the best entertainment - their Karaoke night is PRICELESS!  And their gourmet soul food dishes are not to be missed!  






MELBA'S - a HAUTE Harlem spot with delicious everything!  

B SMITH'S - yeah, her!  B SMITH'S has great soul food and they're loc'd right in the middle of Times Square, making them the purrfect pre-show dinner spot and after-show dessert joint!  






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Written by: Michelle Coller
Michelle is a corporate training instructor who loves advocacy, event planning, public speaking, and living in New York City.  We met at the Pink Teacup Fundraiser in 2009 when I lived in New York City.  

Soul Food Connection is an online database for people to search for and find soul food restaurants in their area.  Please follow us: 

http://twitter.com/soulfoodconnect

Black-eyed Peas, Soul Food, and a New Year!

Ahhh, the aroma of the house on a new years day.  If you don't have that now, do you remember growing up and smelling rich fragrances coming from the kitchen that have been simmering all morning or all night long.  Those black-eyed peas for good luck, cabbage for money, and all the rest of the Soul Food fixens!

On twitter this morning, there have been about two posts PER SECOND in reference to black-eyed peas as a New Year tradition.  Of these tweets, 1 of 3 have included cabbage and some sort of pork meat and corn-bread; some using vegan alternatives or turkey replacements.  The race, ethnicity, and nationality of these people contributing to the coversation about this tradition span beyond all color lines, economic brackets, age, size, and gender.

This is why I love Soul Food.  It is the original cuisine of Americans.  Even people who come here from other countries will assimilate and learn to eat Soul Food because it is a wonderful cuisine... a world cuisine that us American's contribute to the wonderful array of foods served across the planet.

With so much negativity and controversy around Soul Food, including the last blog post I wrote called, "Soul Food is NOT an Epidemic", it is a wonder that more people don't open up their eyes and realize how special of a culture we have here in America.  This is a culture that spans beyond all color lines.

If Soul Food is such a bad thing, then why are so many people talking about it on Twitter and cooking it for New Years day?  This is just a reminder to me that Soul Food is not going anywhere!  People LOVE it and will continue to eat it as they did for thousands of years in the past.  While Soul Food is being reinvented, people are opening restaurants with an edge, and food trucks ARE the new trend, original soul food still thrives and is at it's best... seen specifically on New Years Day, with families and friends across the world!

Take a moment to learn the history of Soul Food and why we eat Black-eyed peas on New Years day.  Happy New Year friends!  May 2012 be prosperous and may you be blessed always!

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Soul Food Connection (TM) is an online database for people to search for and find soul food restaurants in their area.  Please follow us: 

http://twitter.com/soulfoodconnect

Soul Food is NOT an Epidemic

I read an article today about a documentary filmmaker named Byron Hurt who is in the final stages of working on his "Soul Food Junkies" film.  While I am really excited about this documentary, I am also worried because I do not know what angle Hurt is coming from.  In the NY Daily News article I read today by Stanley Crouch, it establishes the position that this documentary is going to be the "Super Size Me" of the Soul Food Industry.  He goes as far as to claim that Byron Hurt is "like a combination of Spurlock and Upton Sinclair".  This one-sided, all is bad notion, is what worries me the most.

While I am personally really looking forward to this documentary because it will educate the black community and the world about the health risks of eating mostly "Soul Food",  I just hope that there will also be a highlight of the many healthy Soul Food restaurants in our country.  The biggest problem I have with dogmatic documentaries or commentaries of this nature is that it also takes away from the very black businesses that are in dire threat of surviving in this country as it is.

"Soul food is killing black America" - What a persuasive title!  Stanley Crouch is a great writer indeed.  This is a social psychological claim that of course begets people to make decisions based on that which they do not want.  In this case it is: death.  Nobody wants die and poignant statements such as this concern me because it persuades people to want to stop supporting Soul Food restaurants.  The very same people who spend their money to stimulate the black economy will in turn, take their money and spend it at a Red Lobster or Olive Garden "chain" restaurants, where they will end up consuming the same amount, if not more calories.  Which is the greater evil?  

Without seeing the film, I cannot comment too much on the dialogue presented, but Crouch states that the film is, "humorous, soulful and well aware of how hard it is to change when what one is addicted to is not only certain kinds of food but food made to taste truly delicious."  This is a huge blanket statement which persuades people to believe that most black people are "addicted" to Soul Food.

Why do the words "addiction" and "black community" have to be synonymous?  Are Mexican's addicted to Mexican food?  Are Italian people addicted to Italian food?  NO.  It is the food of their culture.  Is eating it everyday, all day, without concern about the health implications a threat on our well being? YES.  This is not only a "black culture" thing, this is a nationwide, all cultures, all people epidemic.  My concern with documentaries and people who write articles like Crouch, is that it persuades a population to have self-perpetuating stereotypes of anger and resentment toward a culture of important history and food that has brought a people together for over 1,700 years.

It is just curious to me that while black buying power is at an all time high, there are still certain people who want to prevent black businesses from thriving.  It is far more of a concern for me that there is a lack of black support of black commerce than it is a concern for the health issues of the people.  Shocking to hear, but reconsider...  Did you know that the biggest threat to health in the world is poverty?  It is important that people support these black businesses and instead of trying to tear them down, build up other businesses that show there are options to eat healthier.  Soul Food Connection does not only encourage stimulation in the Soul Food market, but also educates people about healthy Soul Food options.

The point I am claiming here is that there are many avenues to consider before concluding that it is the food that is killing the people.  In light of the "Super Size Me" link as Crouch so confidently declaired, I would like to also remind you that there was a documentary in response to Spurlock, called  "Fat Head", in which a man proved that you can loose weight on a fast food diet.

Let's assume we are all grown up and capable of monitoring our calorie intake, physical activity, and limiting our consumption of fried foods (and animal products).  It is a choice for people to be addicted to eating bad foods all the time and this does not mean that it is that way for all of a community. Let's stop perpetuating negative self-racism and start to empower people to make better choices.  Let's go into 2012 with the desire to lift black people up, rather than tear them down.  

Empowerment will always win over degradation.  

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Soul Food Connection (TM) is an online database for people to search for and find soul food restaurants in their area.  Please follow us: 

http://twitter.com/soulfoodconnect