Following are several ideas for recognizing National Soul Food month.

• Asking family members to research and share facts about their favorite soul food at a family meal during the month of June.
• Ask family and community members to share their favorite soul food recipes. Celebrate Juneteenth, with a family or community picnic or barbecue. Bring a soul food dish. Juneteenth, June 19, 1865 is the date that slaves in Texas learned the Emancipation Proclamation freed them.
• Research and share information about the culinary contributions of African-Americans with family and community members.
• Plan and host a fish fry to recognize the contribution of Ed Scott, the first African-American catfish farmer in the Mississippi Delta.
• Visit a soul food restaurant in your community.
• Support African-American businesses in the food industry such as grocers, food companies and restaurants.
• Learn the names and products that are produced by African-American food companies in your community.

• During the 17th Century enslaved Africans were so skilled in cultivating rice in the Carolinas that the rice was known as "Carolina Gold."
• Norbert Rillieux, an African-American invented the vacuum pan used in refining sugar. This invention increased efficiency in producing sugar, making it an affordable commodity.
• George Washington Carver recognized for his work with peanuts also developed alternative uses for sweet potatoes, soybeans, and pecans.
• C.H. Smiley was a very successful African-American caterer in Chicago during the late 19th century; he left a portion of his estate to establish a scholarship in his name at the University of Chicago.
• Seven African-American postal workers in the Bronzeville community of Chicago created Baldwin Ice Cream, in 1921.
• Frederick McKinley Jones, an African-American invented the first practical refrigerator for long haul trucks. This made the widespread distribution of perishable food possible.

Source: Charla L. Draper
It is not legal to reprint without author's permission.