This week I continued my progress on researching southern history. Unfortunately I did not make as much progress as I had hoped on the topic because I found out that I did not have a firm foundation on the deep and rich history that comes with southern food. Southern food is a combination of several different cuisines African European and Native American. Each of these segments of the food culture found in the South carries with it its own opinions techniques and combinations of flavors ingredients and food culture.

Alongside this diverse range of topics that can be examined there is a history of exploitation, racism, and institutionalized discrimination. In creating a class that focuses on a topic I feel I do not know enough about I felt that it was important to review the literature available on the subject. Especially with the current focus in news cycles and across social media centering Black voices and histories, I want to make sure that I am respectful and careful in the way that I present history. I have felt very nervous about the history I am writing about and I keep asking myself, “Is the language I’m using going to lead people to make harmful connections?” “Am I perpetuating stereotypes and not actually seeing the larger narrative?” This is something I have not experienced before, food history has always come easy to me with a pattern of expansion, exploration, and trade being the basis for much of what I have researched. I am happy that I’m having these challenges, but I’m realizing that I’ve never really had to write a complicated history before. I want this curriculum to present an accurate representation of Southern food that is meaningful and educational for the community while also serving to promote EEE’s mission to create a more food confident Orlando.

In addition to the primary sources that I focused on last week I have also been researching books that were recommended to me and going through the back issues of the Southern Foodways Alliance. I have found this organization to be an invaluable resource both for the quality of literature that they put out but the documentaries and oral histories that they have published. I am hoping to attend their conference in October and hopefully show this curriculum to some of the conference attendees.

However, that means I have to write it first. I plan on finishing up the rest of the curriculum this weekend to hopefully send out on Monday or Tuesday and then we’ll look forward to meeting with Megan to discuss the next project that I will work on. In addition that first week in October I will be assisting in the execution of the medieval times class which was the curriculum I created a couple of weeks ago.