Soul food is the taste of Juneteenth

Jun. 18—PLATTSBURGH — Juneteenth tastes like the Central and West African foodways, which were transported along with between 10 and 12 million captured and trafficked in the transAtlantic slave trade to the Caribbean and to the Americas.

During the American Civil War (April 12, 1861 — April 9, 1865), the enslaved Black people in Texas didn't learn that they were free until Union Major General Gordon Granger issued General Order, No. 3 on June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas.

Their release from chattel slavery came two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S. President, signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed enslaved Blacks in the Confederate States of America, on Jan. 1, 1863.

Jubilee Day

Juneteenth, a fusion of June and 19th, commemorates the former enslaved people's joy, immediate and long lasting, in Texas and beyond. It is a celebratory time that includes paying homage to ancestors, gathering with family, and feasting.

In 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act recognizing it as a federal holiday.

Like any other holiday, it has a specific cuisine, "soul food," as it is called by Black people in the United States.

Juneteenth foodways originate in the African-influenced soul food created from cast-offs and the humble — black-eyed peas, chitterlings, collard greens, cornbread, fried fish, fried chicken, pork and stews — by a diasporic people.

Black-eyed peas and collard greens are New Year's Day staples to usher in the start of another cycle and prosperity, and they resurface on Juneteenth.

Mississippi Roots

Patricia Lockett's tantalizing aromas wafted inside the Strand Main Gallery at Friday's "What Is Juneteenth?" celebration at the Strand Center for the Arts in Plattsburgh.

Lockett, 60, is the proprietor of Miss Pat's, a local home-based catering service.

In 2006, she, her mother, and children, followed her brother, William Lee, here from Chicago.

"We used to come up here and vacation with him and his family every summer," she said.

"I originate from Mississippi. I was born in Coahoma, Mississippi. We're right next to Lula, Mississippi. That's where my grandmother was born."

Lockett said Chicago is even colder than the North Country.

"The cold (here) didn't bother us because the winter in Chicago is very rough," she said.

"We like it up here, and the kids were able to focus."

Culinary heritage

The mother of six learned to cook from her mother, Eloise Lee.

"She was born on a farm," Lockett said.

"She was born picking cotton, collard greens. Anything — collard greens, jam, fried chicken — all of that came out of my mother's hands. Out of my mother's hands. When we were young, me and my sister, Rhonda, we would be the prep people. We were the prep girls. We shred the cheese, shred the peas, husk the corn, whatever my mother needed us to do we were always there to help her out during the holidays or even making dinner."

Side hustle

Lockett learned a lot from her mother, even her business sense.

"Ever since I was younger, I always wanted to do a little catering or a little something on the side," she said.

"My mother started me off making Christmas dinners for people who wanted to have a Christmas dinner, but they didn't feel like doing a big thing. She used to do it, and she would take it to their house and they would pay her for it. I said, 'Momma, that is so nice. Let me learn how. I want to do that.'"

celebrations

They cooked food for various celebrations, even funeral repasts.

"They would give us a list, and we would cook it, down to the pies and cakes," she said.

"So, that's how I learned. I have been doing it for like 10 years now. I do the Plattsburgh State Choir. I do the churches."

Her Juneteenth menu consisted of green-beans-and-potatoes, yams, macaroni and cheese, yellow rice, fried chicken, and cornbread.

"I was going to make the collard greens, but it's so hard to find collard greens," she said.

"This is what I do. I love doing it."

Passing it on

When Lockett was growing up, Juneteenth wasn't celebrated in Mississippi.

It wasn't even mentioned.

"We celebrate it because it's history," she said.

"It's our ancestors that opened up the door for us and gave us the right of way to have entrepreneurial stores and banks, and for our culture to have things. So yes, we have to celebrate."

Her nephew, Hakim Lee, loves the holiday that falls on his birthday.

"We enjoy June 19, and plus it gives us another step on what we missed out on history," she said.

"Now that my grandkids and my nieces and nephews know about June 19, we celebrate and give them the history of what was going on back then so they can learn the heritage. You are a part of us, and we're a part of you. We have to make sure we keep this up because there are a lot of gifts in us. Let's start bringing out the gifts."

Eating red

As red is the color found in both the red-white-blue Juneteenth Flag and red-black-green Pan-African Flag, red is the signature color associated with the holiday.

Juneteenth chefs serve red soda, red lemonade, Juneteenth punch, red velvet cake and cupcakes, watermelon, and strawberries.

"The color red is said to represent the blood shed throughout enslavement, and some say it traces back to parts of West Africa where red drinks marked special occasions and red is symbolic of spiritual power," according to sheknows.com

Sophie Ward, the proprietor of North Country Cupcakes by Sophie, had a table with sweets near Lockett.

"Today, I'm serving kind of Southern delicacies and other desserts that honor the Black community and Black Americans," she said.

"I'm hoping to do it justice because this isn't my exact culture."

Ward was born in Paraguay, South America.

"I have South American enslaved ancestors, and I came to America through adoption," she said.

"My son, his father is African American, so we've become to be part of the culture through that."

Ward's offerings included red velvet cupcakes, pig pickin' cakes, and tea cakes.

Her son, Quincy Ward-Lewis, dispensed sweet tea.

Of Juneteenth, Ward said:

"I'm very excited to be part of it."

Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter@RobinCaudell