Soul Food – Same Taste With a Dash of Heath Consciousness
Despite the outstanding and colorful definition of soul food, soul food restaurants including mom and pop diners, soul cafes, soul food buffets, soul food catered, and soul food diners are becoming a dying breed. Although the economic recession has clearly affected the restaurant industry, however, other factors such as changing tastes, health consciousness, and infamous quick-fix $1.00 menu offered by fast-food chains appeared to be major factors to as to while soul food restaurants are dying. There was a time in predominately African American cities, when one could easily count two to three soul restaurants on any given block. Now you literally have to hire a detective to find them. The names of some of the finest soul food restaurants or diners around the country appear to be fading out of business daily.
For the past 7 semesters, I had performed a a very simple but effective restaurant related marketing research with my business students. As you know, research provides insight into any business, the customers, and subsequently the business' success. Whether you need to understand your customers’ away from home dining habits or want to forecast menu trends, data from research provides the information you need to make an informed decision about your soul food restaurant.
My research consisted of a sheet with two columns. Column1 is titled: “Cuisine” and column2 is titled “Ethnicity”. Column1 consists of a list of cuisines such as soul food, Italian, French, Mexican, Indian, Jamaican, American, Japanese, Chinese and African (this list has increased over the semesters since my students are becoming representative of the United Nations). Each cuisines has a check-box next to it. Column2 consists of a list of ethnicity with a check-box next to each ethnic group. The students are asked to check a box in column2 that correspond to their ethnicity. They are also ask to write the numbers 1, 2, 3 in order of their first choice of food or their favorite cuisine. Invariably, all the students, including the African American students, would choose everything else but the soul food. At an average, the Chinese and Mexican students were always consistent in choosing Chinese and Mexican food respectively.
Occasionally, I would asked an African American student in my class why was an Italian cuisine chosen over the soul food cuisine. I have gotten responses, such as soul food is heavy, fried, salty, fattening, or it contains trans fats or MSG. The issue, in my opinion, is that many African-Americans, long a support base for soul food restaurants are more comfortable eating Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Indian, Jamaican or Thai dishes. The research also showed that African American are favoring Jamaican restaurants over soul food.
In all fairness to soul food, all cuisines are guilty when it comes to serving salty, fattening, fatty ground beef, hydrogenated oil, lard, MSG, peanut oil, pork sausage, or trans fats food. Without a doubt, there is an urgent need to re-visit and re-think the soul food menu; especially as it relates to health issues such as high blood pressure and diabetes in the African American community. We do need to exercise more and eat healthy. Healthy eating doesn't means that you have to forgo soul food – it is here to stay. There are healthy alternatives to cooking with lard, hydrogenated vegetable oils, or lots of salt on vegetables, or cooking beans with fattening pork products.
In most cases, the typical menu of a Soul food restaurants, mom and pop diners, soul cafes, soul food buffets, soul food catered or soul food diners comprises of:
Liver and onions, Chicken and Pork Chops, Beans & Rice, barbecue Chicken,Cabbage, Fried Fish, Plantains, Chicken Stuffing, Fresh Roasted Turkey, Herb Roasted Potatoes, Baked Chicken, Buttered Corn, Honey Glazed Ham, Creamy Mashed Potatoes, Southern Fried Chicken, Fresh Sauteed String Beans, Honey barbecue Chicken Wings, Baked Fish, White Rice, barbecue Spare Ribs, Corn & Okra, Vegetable Fried Rice, Buffalo Wings, Sweet Candied Yams, Baked Macaroni & Cheese, Oxtails, Country Seasoned Pork Chops, Black-eyed peas, Rice, Yams, greens, okra and cornbread. Collard Greens, Pig Feet, Crab Cakes, Curry Chicken or goat, Jerk Chicken or Pork, Smotherd Chicken or pork chops, Smothered Turkey Wings, Chitlins, Baked Lasagna, Beef Short Ribs, Oriental Chicken, Corned Beef, Lima Beans with ham hocks or turkey neck, Shrimp Linguine,home bakery such as Plain Cheese Cake, Strawberry Cheese Cake, Blueberry Cheese Cake, Cherry Cheese Cake, Carrot Cake, Coconut Cake, Pineapple Coconut Cake, Sweet Potato Pie, Fried Pork Chops,Waffle and Wings,Spanish Harlem Omelette, Mushroom Omelette, Salmon, Croquettes, Flapjacks, Peach Cobbler Waffle, Fried Catfish Strips, Southern Grits, Black-Eyed Peas, Collard Greens, Seasonal Fruit, Turkey Sausage, Potato Hash, Smoked Bacon. Sweet Potatoes, Scrambled Eggs, Butter Beans, Country Fried Steak, Hog Maws, Oxtails, Chicken Livers, Ham Hocks, Neck Bones, and Chitterlings.
The key here is to do your homework by researching restaurants Online if you're going out to eat. It's a pain to find any restaurant website and search out the nutritional information or a voluntary nutrition disclosure. I found one website where you can find a lot of the same information in one place. The newly launched website has created a one-of-a-kind database for searching on soul food restaurants. This site lists the general information about the restaurant such as the types of credit cards that are accepted etc. Additionally, they have a searchable “voluntary nutrition disclosure,” option where restaurants informed their customers if they serve fatty ground beef, hydrogenated oil, lard, MSG, peanut oil, pork sausage, or trans fats. The also has a “view a map of the area,” that allows you to see the physical structure of restaurant to avoid going where you normally wouldn't go. If your favorite soul food restaurant is not included in this website, suggest that they do so.
Are you aware of a health conscious soul food restaurant? Care to share the name and address, your likes or dislikes with us?
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