July 1968 Field Work on Soul, Washington, D. C.

Ice cold watermelon, related links below

Social anthropologist Ulf Hannerz was born in 1942 in Malmö, Sweden. In July and August of 1968 he did intensive field work on the topic of soul in Washington, D.C.; this was during the heyday of chocolate city radio and TV personality and civil rights activist Petey Green . I came across Hannerz’s work while doing research for my book Hog and Hominy. In 1960s D. C. commercial establishments with a vested interest in a separate black audience latched onto soul vocabulary, using it to further their own business interest. But soul vocabulary was not just a commercial creation. At the time, blacks in Washington, D. C. and in cities further north started identifying the poor man’s food reminiscent of the rural south that they cooked for family and friends according to “race rather than region.” Therefore in Northern ghettos people gradually made the transition from talking about good old southern or down home food to soul food. Instead of a recipe I am going to suggest some ice cold watermelon today Watermelon has to be soul food because the plant is indigenous Africa and poor folks of all ethnicities have been eating it down south for centuries. Check out these related links:

Petey Green video clip on how to eat watermelon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-eitsutpOc

Saveur Magazine article, “Why We Love Watermelon”: http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/Why-We-Love-Watermelon