In an extract from her award-winning book Jubilee, Toni Tipton-Martin explains how black cooks made them favourite dishes – and shares her versions
Whole Foods Market caused quite a stir in 2014, when the healthfood superstore declared “collard greens the new kale” and tweeted a recipe for sauteed collards garnished with peanuts. I admit I had to laugh. It reminded me of the author’s words in 1968’s A Good Heart and a Light Hand: Ruth L Gaskins’ Collection of Traditional Negro Recipes: “It’s amazing to us to think that anyone could grow up without greens, but every time we shop in the supermarket, white women ask in surprise: ‘What in the world do you do with those things?’ ”
For many on Twitter, this recipe was a bridge too far. “For other people, collards are a trend – for us, they are a tradition,” food writer and historian Michael Twitty said at the time of Whole Foods’ announcement. But it’s also fair to ask: what is that tradition? In this case, it may have been the peanuts that shocked people. But there is also an impression that old-fashioned, Southern or country-style greens must be boiled to death to be authentic soul food. Any other way, and you might as well just designate the dish #fakesoul. That notion, though, hasn’t always been set in stone.
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