Like , Juneteenth is characterized by summer cookout dishes: , , , , cakes and pies. Red-hued foods are classic — red drinks, watermelon and, recently, . From the very beginning, praying, preaching, playing, singing, storytelling and eating were Juneteenth canons.
To embrace the reminders of slavery and poverty — including the gastronomic vestiges like red soda water, and the sweet treats of childhood — can be hard, but to do so is to honor the suffering and affirm the contributions made by generations of freed African Americans. Fried chicken, for example, is a soul-food tradition that can be traced to the enterprising women who used chicken to build lives for themselves and secure their economic freedom. Serving fried chicken takes on an entirely new meaning when served at Emancipation Day picnics celebrating freedom.
With any luck, the families who share a homemade picnic in the park will recall the artistic spirit and selfless determination of generations of African American cooks who were finally able to decide how they would prepare vegetables and set the time and manner in which the family ate its suppers; they can cheer the restaurateurs who for so long were denied the opportunity to serve. The dish we've come to know as warm spinach salad — greens tossed with a hot bacon dressing — wasn't really a salad at all, to hear the Black cookbook authors tell it through the years. Survey the vegetables section of soul food and early 20th century Black cookbooks and .