“I want to dispel the myths of what America thinks Black cooking is and is not,” says Ashleigh Santi, chef and owner of Good Hot Fish in Asheville, North Carolina.
Items that typically fall under “soul food,” like fried chicken and macaroni and cheese, might fit the bill, she continues, “but there’s just so much more depth,” she says about the African American culinary cannon and greater Southern cuisine.
Though many Americans tend to lump all soul and Southern food into the same general pot, the region and its varied fare is not a single entity. Santi expands upon this idea in her recently released cookbook, Our South: Black Food Through My Lens.
In the tome, Santi highlights the distinct cuisines from the backcountry of Southern Appalachia to the lowlands of Tidewater, Virginia. These “microregions,” as she calls them, demonstrate the diversity of Southern cooking—and how varied it can be from the fried, heavily meat-based and unhealthy dishes that most associate with this part of the nation.
Our South explores the smaller, culturally linked areas that were instrumental in her upbringing and evolved understanding of the region. Growing up in coastal Virginia, Santi was heavily influenced by her parents’ roots across southern Appalachia, southwestern Virginia and other parts of the Southeast. The food she was raised on drew influences from all of the above—a cultural elixir of its own kind that for Santi, was really special.
“I think people don’t realize how vegetable forward it can be,” she says.
This Article was originally published on Wine Enthusiast
