Decolonizing our tongues & celebrating Juneteenth through food w/ Dr. Sunyatta Amen | #TheBlackTable
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Summary
Takeaways
- ❖Juneteenth, celebrated since 1866, is part of a broader constellation of emancipation day celebrations across the African diaspora.
- ❖The national recognition of Juneteenth in 2021 was a direct result of the 'great reckoning' and street protests following George Floyd's death.
- ❖Dr. Sunyatta Amen is a fifth-generation herbalist and naturopathic physician, born into a legacy of community building and herbal medicine in Harlem.
- ❖The concept of 'decolonizing our tongues' involves reclaiming traditional foods and practices that connect mind, body, and spirit to African heritage.
- ❖Red is a significant ancestral color in many West African traditions, symbolizing connection, power through blood, and is central to Juneteenth and other diasporic celebrations.
- ❖Hibiscus, known as sorrel, bissap, rosella, karkade, or agua fresca de Jamaica, is a powerful coolant and vasodilator, popular in tropical regions and a key red drink.
- ❖Commercial enterprises have historically co-opted the Black community's love for red, marketing unhealthy red-colored products like sodas and candies.
- ❖Protecting Juneteenth's cultural integrity requires Black entrepreneurs to reclaim recipes, make healthier versions, and teach these traditions.
- ❖Maintaining good health through traditional foods is a revolutionary act that enhances life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, countering historical and corporate efforts to compromise well-being.
Insights
1Juneteenth's Deep Diasporic Roots and National Recognition
Juneteenth, commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in Texas on June 19, 1865, is not an isolated American event but part of a wider constellation of emancipation celebrations across the African diaspora. Its recent national holiday status in 2021 was a direct outcome of the widespread protests and 'great reckoning' that followed George Floyd's death in May 2020, highlighting its connection to ongoing struggles for racial justice.
Host Greg Carr details Major General Gordon Granger's arrival in Galveston Bay on June 19, 1865, and the first Juneteenth celebration in 1866. He connects the national holiday's creation on June 17, 2021, to the 'great reckoning' after George Floyd's death, noting Floyd's connection to Jack Yates High School, named after a formerly enslaved African who founded Emancipation Park where early Juneteenths were celebrated. Dr. Amen also links Juneteenth to broader Caribbean emancipation celebrations.
2The Revolutionary Act of Food and Ancestral Red Traditions
Food serves as a pivotal connection to ancestral heritage and a revolutionary act of resistance. Enslaved Africans carried knowledge of herbal medicine and food practices, using them to maintain health and cultural identity in inhumane conditions. Red foods and drinks, like hibiscus (sorrel), are particularly significant ancestral symbols of power, blood connection, and joyful resistance across West African traditions and the diaspora, offering medicinal benefits like lowering blood pressure.
Dr. Amen explains that during the Maafa (transatlantic slave trade), herbal medicine knowledge was a way to connect to home. She states, 'one thing that you can't really control is food. People decide they're not going to eat... It is something you can control as an individual. So, one of the ways that we take personal power... is the control of what we eat or do not eat. And that is a revolutionary act.' She lists various names for hibiscus (bissap, sorrel, rosella, karkade, agua fresca de Jamaica) and its properties as a coolant and vasodilator, linking red to ancestral power and ceremony.
3Corporate Co-option and the Call to Reclaim Food Traditions
The Black community's deep cultural affinity for red foods and drinks has been historically exploited by corporations, who deliberately market unhealthy red-colored products (like sodas and candies) to them. With Juneteenth's national recognition, this commercialization is expected to intensify, threatening to dilute the holiday's authentic meaning. The imperative is for Black entrepreneurs and individuals to reclaim traditional recipes, prepare healthier versions, and educate communities to preserve cultural integrity and health.
Dr. Amen notes that commercial enterprises recognized 'these black folks like this red drink and red foods. Let's see how we can color things with as much red as possible, whether it's candies... the red sodas, Big Red and and, um, Kool-Aid.' She highlights that 'we don't describe it as a flavor... It's red flavored.' She warns against 'Juneteenth sales and lots of things revolving around food' and urges, 'what we have to do is decide to be those entrepreneurs even in our own homes. Reclaim the recipes, make these recipes, make them healthier versions of what we love.'
Bottom Line
The historical villainization of foods eaten with hands (like watermelon or chicken with bones) among Black communities was a subtle form of cultural colonization, pushing towards 'continental table manners' and away from traditional eating practices.
This insight reveals how even seemingly innocuous social norms around eating can be tools of cultural assimilation, designed to distance communities from their indigenous practices. It highlights the importance of re-embracing 'hand-held' foods as a form of decolonization and cultural pride.
Develop educational campaigns or culinary experiences that celebrate and normalize traditional hand-eating practices within the Black community, linking them to ancestral heritage and resistance against imposed cultural standards.
The naming conventions of commercial products, such as 'red flavored' drinks instead of specific fruit flavors, indicate a deliberate and deep-seated corporate understanding of Black cultural preferences for the color red, exploiting it for mass marketing.
This demonstrates a sophisticated, almost anthropological, understanding by corporations of cultural symbols, which they then commodify. It's a stark reminder of how cultural elements can be stripped of their original meaning and leveraged for profit, often at the expense of community health.
Create and promote authentic, naturally red-colored beverages and foods (e.g., hibiscus teas, beet-based dishes) that reclaim the ancestral significance of the color red, offering healthy alternatives to commercially dyed products and educating consumers on the difference.
Opportunities
Diaspora Foodways Education & Product Line
Develop an educational platform and a corresponding product line that teaches the historical, cultural, and health significance of traditional African and diasporic foods, focusing on ingredients, recipes, and preparation methods. This would include 'decolonized' versions of popular dishes and drinks, emphasizing natural ingredients and ancestral health benefits, directly countering corporate commercialization.
Ancestral Herbal Health & Wellness Kits
Curate and sell kits featuring traditional herbs and botanicals, like hibiscus and ginger, along with instructions and recipes for their use in drinks and dishes. These kits would emphasize the medicinal properties and cultural significance, empowering individuals to incorporate ancestral health practices into their daily lives, similar to Dr. Amen's family legacy.
Key Concepts
Decolonizing Our Tongues
This model refers to the conscious effort to reclaim and restore traditional African and diasporic foodways and health practices, moving away from colonized diets and culinary habits that often contribute to poor health and cultural disconnection. It emphasizes that what we eat is a revolutionary act of self-determination and cultural preservation.
Food as Resistance and Cultural Custodianship
This model posits that food is not merely sustenance but a powerful tool for cultural continuity, resistance against oppression, and the preservation of identity. Enslaved Africans and their descendants used traditional knowledge of herbs and food preparation to maintain health, connect to ancestral roots, and assert agency, making those who uphold these traditions 'cultural custodians'.
Lessons
- Reclaim and prepare traditional Juneteenth recipes, focusing on natural ingredients and healthier cooking methods to preserve cultural integrity and promote well-being.
- Actively seek out and support Black-owned businesses that offer authentic, culturally resonant food and health products, rather than relying on mainstream commercialized versions.
- Educate yourself and your community on the historical and cultural significance of specific foods and rituals, fostering a deeper connection to ancestral practices and resisting corporate co-option.
Reclaiming Juneteenth Food Traditions for Health and Heritage
Research and identify traditional Juneteenth foods and drinks, particularly those with red colors (e.g., hibiscus/sorrel, red rice, watermelon).
Source natural, high-quality ingredients, prioritizing fresh produce and authentic spices over processed or artificially colored alternatives.
Learn and practice preparing these foods using healthier cooking methods, reducing excessive sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats, while maintaining traditional flavors.
Share recipes and knowledge within your family and community, fostering intergenerational learning and strengthening cultural ties.
Support Black-owned businesses that are dedicated to preserving and promoting authentic African and diasporic foodways and health practices.
Notable Moments
Dr. Amen's childhood experience of her fingertips being stained yellow or red from bagging herbs like turmeric and golden seal, leading to schoolmates calling her a 'witch.'
This personal anecdote vividly illustrates her deep, lifelong immersion in herbal medicine and the early, sometimes misunderstood, connection to ancestral practices, highlighting the 'stain' of her heritage.
The host, Greg Carr, recalling the 'Kool-Aid Man' busting through walls and realizing the underlying cultural assumptions and stereotypes embedded in the commercial marketing.
This moment signifies a powerful realization of how deeply ingrained and subtly manipulative corporate marketing can be, using cultural symbols (like the love for red) to perpetuate stereotypes and sell unhealthy products, even to those who grew up with them.
Quotes
"One thing that you can't really control is food. People decide they're not going to eat, or people, uh, who feel put upon decide, 'I'm not eating.' Or I am eating my feelings, or I'm not going to eat cuz I feel a certain way. It is something you can control as an individual. So, one of one of the ways that we um take personal power, even if it's in a disordered fashion, even as as modern people in disorder, is the control of what we eat or do not eat. And that is a revolutionary act for better or worse."
"Red is a significant ancestral color for us. In many of our West African traditions, red symbolizes ancestral connection and power through blood through blood connections."
"It's not cherry and it's not strawberry, a lot, you know, and it's not it's not hibiscus flavor. It's red flavored."
"Good health is not only your birth right, but it is also a revolutionary act."
Q&A
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