Q 01/05

The expression 'soul food' came into use in which decade?

A) The 1920s

B) The 1960s

C) The 1940s

D) The 1980s

Answer · why

B) The 1960s

'Soul' was the word of the moment for Black American culture; the phrase spread alongside soul music and the Black Power movement.

Q 02/05

One of the earliest written uses of the term 'soul food' appears in which 1965 book?

A) Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

B) The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

C) Manchild in the Promised Land

D) The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Answer · why

D) The Autobiography of Malcolm X

The poet LeRoi Jones, later Amiri Baraka, also published an essay titled 'Soul Food' that argued for the cuisine as part of Black identity.

Q 03/05

Under what earlier name did Amiri Baraka publish the article 'Soul Food'?

A) James Baldwin

B) Langston Hughes

C) LeRoi Jones

D) Ralph Ellison

Answer · why

C) LeRoi Jones

For families of the Great Migration, the food was a reminder of the Southern homes they had left for northern cities.

Q 04/05

Which month is celebrated as National Soul Food Month?

A) November

B) February

C) August

D) June

Answer · why

D) June

It coincides with Juneteenth, the holiday whose barbecues and red foods are themselves part of the tradition.

Q 05/05

Per historian Adrian Miller, Black cooks distinguish their corn bread from white Southern versions by adding what?

A) Bacon fat

B) Whole corn kernels

C) Sugar

D) Buttermilk

Answer · why

C) Sugar

White Southerners, Miller notes, say that once you put sugar in cornbread it becomes cake.