Fried Chicken and Watermelon

  First of all, I would like to wish you all a Happy Black History Month. There two foods are that have been well known in the black community. Those foods just happened to be fried chicken and watermelon. Whenever you think of these foods, people would think stereotypes of black people. But believe it or not, fried chicken and watermelon has a very interesting history. A history I was surprised to learn about.

Fried chicken as a word was first used in 19th century America. However, this food has Scottish and West African origins. The Scottish used cooking technique of called frittering which meant that poultry was coated batter or flour and deep fried in lard. Many peoples of West Africa cooked their chicken palm oil but unlike the Scottish they seasoned their poultry highly. The slavery trade in the American South. African slaves were allowed to raise their own chicken and fried them on special occasions. Both of the cooking techniques from the Scottish and West Africans we used in cooking fried chicken.

Watermelon is a fruit that originated in the continent of Africa. It come to the Americas along with African slaves. Believe it or not, primitive watermelons were not sweet at all. They were also bitter and not easy to open. Breeding, however, made this fruit was much easier to open and sweet. This has been cultivated in the Americas since the 1500s. It was also grown by Native Americans as well.

Now, here is the history fact about fried chicken and watermelon that I never knew. They represent freedom for African American. That's right I said it! Freedom! Why? Because after the Civil War, freed black people began to sell fried chicken and watermelon. This brought financial independence to the black community. However, these symbols of freedom became stereotypes by a film called Birth of a Nation in 1915. It made black people look lazy, unclean and having a big appetite for these two foods. I found this out on Donkey of the Day from The Breakfast Club Power 105.1.

So their you have it! Two foods that have been known as stereotypes about black people turn out to be symbols of freedom from slavery and financial freedom as well.