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cannot forcibly or voluntarily import into a region hundreds of thousands of people from distant
lands with different histories, cultures, cuisines, etc., and not have those histories,
cultures, cuisines, etc., influence the land to which they were brought. Such was the case with
the hundreds of thousands of Africans forcibly brought to North America as part of the
trans-Atlantic slave trade and with the millions eventually born and bred on this continent.
These individuals, all part of tribes or clans, brought to North America, and especially to the
American South where they constituted forced labor in that vast regions agrarian economy, clung
to what they knew best and to what was a source of comfort under miserable conditions. African
foods, such as red and black-eyed peas, okra, rice, and mixtures of these foods combined into
soups and dishes like jambalaya were imported from Africa and became staples of Southern
cuisine.
In addition to food, African slaves brought with them...
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