Black Hunger: Soul Food And America (Paperback)

~ Doris Witt (Author)
Key Phrases: black aesthetic, beaten biscuit, natural diet, African American, Aunt Jemima, Vibration Cooking (more...)

Product Details

• Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press; 1st University of Minnesota Press Ed edition (October 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816645515
• ISBN-13: 978-0816645510
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #913,591 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars (RAW Rating: 4.5) - Exposing the myth, August 12, 2005

By	The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

Using the history of Aunt Jemima as a springboard for researching
the affinity between African-Americans and food, BLACK HUNGER
focuses on debates that have been waged over the term 'soul food'
since the tumultuous era of the late 1960's and early 1970's.

BLACK HUNGER looks specifically at how the association of African-
American women with food has helped structure twentieth-century
psychic, cultural, sociopolitical, and economic life in America.
An association that has blossomed into a complex web of political,
religious, sexual and racial tensions between Blacks and whites,
and within the Black community itself.

Doris Witt uses vaudeville, literature, film and cookbooks to
explore how food has been used to perpetuate and challenge racial
stereotypes. Hence, the main focus is the controversy surrounding
the authenticity of soul food and stereotypical views of black
women in the United States. Witt fervidlyly contends that Aunt
Jemima was not only used to sell pancakes, but also to perpetuate
post-Civil War race and gender hierarchies, including the
subordination of African-American women as servants, and white
fantasies of the nurturing mammy.

As I read this book, I sensed Witt raising her fist in a Black Power
salute and wielding her spatula like a sword; as if Aunt Jemima had
stepped off the pancake box with vengeance and fury. BLACK HUNGER,
which began many years ago as a dissertation at theUniversity of
Virginia, is now an extraordinary book that should claim a viable
place in African American history. This is a fascinating look at the
role of food in our culture.

Reviewed by aNN
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers