Soul Food Is Overrated

Soul Food Is Overrated
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: I'm Speaking Now
By Kamaria Washington

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
~Oprah Winfrey

Thanks to quarantine, expensive holiday flights, and me being 2,400 miles from home, my two housemates and I decided to make the best of Turkey Day/National Day of Mourning together. As we began writing our menu into an iPhone shared note, they asked me what my family usually ate for this day. At this point, I had only been living with them for about three months, so we were still getting to know one another. I closed my eyes, dropped my head back, and pictured the tables crowded with mac and cheese, collard greens, candied yams, baked turkey wings, corn on the cob, fried chicken, baked beans, corn bread, homemade rolls, peach cobbler, sweet potato pie, pound cake, banana pudding, and so much more. With every detail I could think of, I gifted them the smells, textures, and especially the tastes right into their imaginations.

When I lifted my head and opened my eyes, they had theirs closed and saliva creeping out the corners of their mouths. "KAM, YOU HAVE TO MAKE ALL OF THAT!" Uh oh... I'd talked myself right into a trap. My housemates, half-sisters who share Mexican heritage and never had a holiday fixated on soul food, were asking ME to take on a feat fit for a big mama. (Keep reading)