By Luana M. Graves Sellars
Image of Fresh Rice Just Picked
Photo Credit : Gullah Grub Restaurant, St. Helena, South Carolina
There’s no way to begin to share Gullah cuisine or even attempt to tell the story of what Gullah Geechee food is, without telling the story of who the Gullah are. Direct descendants of enslaved West Africans, and also known as the Gullah Geechee, they were specifically brought to the Lowcountry to bring their expertise in growing rice, which is a challenging crop. The culture was based in the centuries old ancestral practice of growing and adding rice to the daily meal and the origins of the dishes goes back for thousands of years.
Gullah Geechee foodways is one of the oldest practices and traditions that’s still being practiced in America today. At its foundation, slavery and the foodways are deeply rooted in cultural West African ancestral ties, as well as adaptability, creativity and circumstance. The meals were and still are designed to be hearty and provide the necessary sustenance and strength to get one through an arduous and physical day.
Like the people who make up Gullah Geechee culture, the food also has its own stories. The West African story of rice, as a valuable commodity, as well as a primary meal staple, is just one of many incredible elements that are the foundation of the foodways and way of life prior to enslavement.
The Trans Atlantic Slave Trade did not prohibit the slaves from bringing the centuries old techniques needed to grow rice with them. Traditionally, West African women were the caretakers of the seeds and upon capture, enslaved women would braid rice grains into their hair to ensure the protection of the crop and to carry the seeds with them. Even empty slave ships were stocked with familiar local African foods for the journey, which accounts for how a lot of culinary traditions were maintained.
In West Africa, jollof rice, which is similar to Gullah red rice, is a staple. The dish is typically made with long-grain rice, tomatoes, onions, spices, vegetables and meat in a single pot. Rice was used in several ways and all parts of the plant were used. If the grain was broken, during processing, either once it was like couscous or twice, it was used for grits. Today, when the grains are broken, they’re known as middlens. The stalk of the plant was also used for padding to sleep on.
Out of necessity, the Gullah became a face-to-face culture forcing traditions, practices and information to be passed down, including the sharing of foodways. Cooking practices were rooted in what small varieties of crops were available or provided and the preparation styles that were brought here from Africa evolved from a history of poverty and just learning to “make-do”. Recipes and cooking methods were not written down; they couldn’t be. Yet they survived and were passed down orally from generation to generation.
Slaves who worked in the plantation house often had access to several pots, seasonings and meats to cook with. When cooking for themselves, the pot was probably a cast iron pan, if they were lucky.
Most often, enslaved people only received the cast off or garbage parts from animals like cows and pigs. The slaves took those items and made them into delicious and sought after dishes.
Access to a single pot is why most Gullah meals are one pot meals that combine ingredients to stretch the meal further. Utilizing the tools and ingredients that they had, called for creativity. Yams were sometimes cooked under the pot within the ashes and if meat was available, it was roasted above the pot. If a top or cover was available for the pot, adding hot coals would enable things like cornbread to receive heat from all directions and to bake.
Images of Shrimp Perloo, Red Rice, Okra and Joloff Rice
Cooking over a fire meant that simmering the food on low heat and meal preparation was done in the early morning, which gave it time to be slowly cooked, so that it could be ready at the end of the day.
Year round, the enslaved were provided with minimal rations, however, Christmas and New Years celebrations were opportunities for receiving excess food, and in some cases they were forced to stuff themselves.
The spirit of Gullah cooking is not only in the richness of its flavor, but also in the ingredients that were tossed out or considered undesirable foods to enslavers. Most cooks were given a single large pot and didn’t have measuring cups; learned and experienced measuring by a pinch or “dash” was just how it was done.
After emancipation, and as time went on, the eventual diaspora, known as “the scatter” resulted in people and the traditional style of cooking migrated as the Gullah Geechee left the sea islands.
Regardless of the location, continuing the practice of coming together for family dinners, especially on Sundays, is a large part of the culture. Sundays are special and families would reserve the day for church, your finest clothes and in some communities, dinner was comprised of dessert.
A pig was cooked once a year for the holidays or a celebration to feed the entire community. Even the term ‘high on the hog’, was indicative of opportunities to eat well during family gatherings and celebrations.
Today, Gullah cooks pride themselves on their ability to season and judge quantities simply by memory, sight, and taste. Gullah Chef Sly Holmes, who shares his traditional cooking style on Kiawah, says “a lot of my recipes I don’t have on paper, it’s all stored in my head…. people say how come you don’t have a paper in front of you? I don’t need it. I do it by experience, taste and smell…..and if I don’t like it, I won’t feed it to anyone.”
Gullah ingredient staples with simmered vegetables made meals like okra soup, or dishes that used ground nuts into a paste, and purloo, which was made with oysters or crab, turkey, chicken or pork, garlic crab, and red rice with sausage. Mostly anything that either had rice in it or was served with rice as the key ingredient was and still is a part of daily meals and holiday dishes today.
One factor that’s significant, is that the culinary environments of the Lowcountry and the African West Coast are very similar, which added to the continuation of cooking practices.
Adding flavor and seasoning was important, but a challenge when there wasn’t any available, therefore, peppers, especially hot peppers, were grown to be a primary ingredient. Even today, it’s considered the mark of a good cook or restaurant when a bottle of hot sauce is on the table.
“Back then our ancestors didn’t know about all of the spices and herbs that we have now. The only thing that they knew was salt and pepper and maybe garlic,” says Chef Sly.
Meals have always been tied to what could be grown and the sea and based on the seasons, which were very important to determining what the Gullah Geechee were able to prepare. The fall harvest brought ripening pecans, walnuts and wild chinquapins (dwarf chestnuts), which were in abundance and used to make pies.
Homemade wines were made from fruits like blackberries, mulberries and plums and depending on the season, were harvested so that they could be prepared to be pressed into wine.
Most Gullah chefs would say that soul food or southern cooking is often interpreted as a modern offshoot of Gullah cooking. Even though there’s an overlap with dishes like okra soup, red rice, and fried local fish it’s not the same thing. According to Chef Sly, he believes that Gullah Geechee and southern cooking “have two different ways” of preparation styles.
Purloo is the Lowcountry version of a pilaf and is very similar to a Louisiana jambalaya. Today, it’s not hard to find a popular lowcountry boil, which is made up from traditional ingredients like shrimp, corn, sausage, and potatoes.
Just like cornbread, a sweet potato pone and peanut stew have been staples on the Sea Islands. Using peanut butter or nuts in recipes is another direct connection to West African cooking practices of using ground peanut paste for flavor or as a protein.
Today, a variety of Gullah Geechee foodways is a very popular, flavorful and sought after dining experience that has richly significant roots that are steeped in history and culture. During your next Gullah meal, bite by bite, savor the taste, experience its unique blend of the ingredients and don’t forget to appreciate the food’s incredible origins.
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