A discussion of African American food must include the cultural patterns associated with how, where, when, with whom, and why certain foods are consumed and the patterns of food procurement, preparation, presentation, and dispensation. Studies of food as part of a cultural system should consider dietary behavior, the environmental conditions in which foods are grown, the meanings associated with food, the social structure and material culture affecting food, and the historical factors that contribute to the persistence or change in food behavior. Food meets a host of human needs––political, economic, communal, cognitive, and affective as well as nutritional––and it has a role in power relations, stereo-types, and assumptions.

Before discussing African American foodways, it is important to first clarify what is meant by the term "African American." Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language...