Amiri Baraka, the Black Arts Movement, and Food

Sweet Potato Pie Recipe below

The black power movement and the glorification of distinctively black culture inspired the emergence of the black arts movement of the 1960s. One of the leading figures in the black arts movement was Amiri Baraka, formerly LeRoi Jones born in 1934 in Newark New Jersey. Baraka and others like him called for a new, independent, proud black identity. Soul was the cultural arm of the black power movement that called for, among other actions, singing, talking, and eating according to the African heritage of black people in America. Baraka advocated soul food as black folk’s cuisine and wrote a lot about his 1966 book Home: Social Essays. He argues that Harlem cuisine his soul food and it comes straight from southern migrants. “Sweet potato pies, a good friend of mine asked recently, ‘Do they taste anything like pumpkin?’ Negative. They taste more like memor[ies],” of the south. Here is sweet potato pie recipe that naturally fits with this post. By the way, on many occasion I had some great pumpkin pie at the Uptown Juice Bar on 125th Street in Harlem made with raisins and coconut in the filling, stuff melted in your mouth. However they stopped making it but still sell lots of sweet potato pie everyday. Great spot to get some healthy forms of soul food just a couple of blocks west of Metro North and on the 1 and 2 subway line.

Fred's Sweet Potato Pie Recipe



Ingredients:

4 to 6 large baked organic sweet potatoes (My mother in law taught me that baking the sweet potato makes the pie come out better than boiling them which is what a lot of folks do. Like steaming, baking is also healthier than boiling because it preserves the water soluble vitamins in the sweet potatoes).

2 large eggs or egg substitutes

1 cup of the thickets best tasting vanilla soy milk you can fine (try Silk’s very vanilla, or Vitasoy Vanilla)

1-2 cups unprocessed sugar

2 Tablespoons of lemon juice

Dash of cinnamon and nutmeg

Dash of vanilla extract



Directions:

Mix the ingredients into a sweet potato purée add milk as needed to make a smooth but thick filling. Bake in a pie crust shell (remember add a little fiber to your crust recipe/http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_pie_crust/) at 375 degrees on lowest rack for 50 minutes, until filling has set. Cool on rack for one hour. Then transfer to refrigerator and chill completely.