Soul Food
Griffin
Hooper
English 1A
30 October 2008
Soul Food
A ritual done over a specific length of time can become tradition, rooting itself into one’s culture and lifestyle. George Gmelch in the essay “Baseball Magic” describes rituals as being irrational and unemotional behaviors linked to an outcome. He finds when a baseball player has a good performance his rituals grow and are continued. Gmelch’s findings reflect that rituals fulfill one’s need for control over one’s environment. Similar to Gmelch, I have found that within my family the ritual of cooking soul food every Sunday has become a means of keeping my family together. By consistently performing this ritual a sense of control is established over the continual unity within my family. Unity is important because it is the basic structure of family, and is something that was not always a part of African American culture. Dating back to slavery, families were often divided in the slave trade and were never to be seen again. This division has had long-term effects on African American families to this day, where often it is seen that a father or mother is lacking and children are raised by extended family. My family came to California from the East Coast over 30 years ago, thus keeping the ritual of Sunday dinner alive has been a crucial factor in maintaining our unity as a family.
My family practices the ritual of having a large soul food dinner every Sunday at my Aunt Louise’s house. On October 26, 2008 I arrived at my Aunt Louise’s house in Los Angeles, California. Just before entering the house I was greeted by the smell of baked foods. As I walked into my aunt’s cozy medium sized home, I immediately saw the dining room table fully set for the guests. The mahogany table was covered with a cream and gold tasseled table cloth, cream plates rimmed with gold sat on the table near silver goblets with gold rims, and champagne flutes and silver utensils matched with gold handles. This elaborate
Hooper
English 1A
30 October 2008
Soul Food
A ritual done over a specific length of time can become tradition, rooting itself into one’s culture and lifestyle. George Gmelch in the essay “Baseball Magic” describes rituals as being irrational and unemotional behaviors linked to an outcome. He finds when a baseball player has a good performance his rituals grow and are continued. Gmelch’s findings reflect that rituals fulfill one’s need for control over one’s environment. Similar to Gmelch, I have found that within my family the ritual of cooking soul food every Sunday has become a means of keeping my family together. By consistently performing this ritual a sense of control is established over the continual unity within my family. Unity is important because it is the basic structure of family, and is something that was not always a part of African American culture. Dating back to slavery, families were often divided in the slave trade and were never to be seen again. This division has had long-term effects on African American families to this day, where often it is seen that a father or mother is lacking and children are raised by extended family. My family came to California from the East Coast over 30 years ago, thus keeping the ritual of Sunday dinner alive has been a crucial factor in maintaining our unity as a family.
My family practices the ritual of having a large soul food dinner every Sunday at my Aunt Louise’s house. On October 26, 2008 I arrived at my Aunt Louise’s house in Los Angeles, California. Just before entering the house I was greeted by the smell of baked foods. As I walked into my aunt’s cozy medium sized home, I immediately saw the dining room table fully set for the guests. The mahogany table was covered with a cream and gold tasseled table cloth, cream plates rimmed with gold sat on the table near silver goblets with gold rims, and champagne flutes and silver utensils matched with gold handles. This elaborate