Soul Food

Big Mama: Soul food cooking is about cooking from the heart.

Ahmad: Now I understand what soul food was all about. See, during slavery us black folks didn’t have a whole lot to celebrate. So cooking became the way we expressed our love for one another. And that’s what those Sunday dinners meant to us. More than just eating, it was a time for sharing our joys and sorrows. Something the old folks say is missing from today’s families.

Though set in Chicago, Soul Food features a feast of mouth-watering Southern dishes: baked ham with pineapple, mustard greens with hot sauce, ham hocks, fish cakes, sweet cornbread, fried chicken, sweet potatoes, biscuits, black-eyed peas, egg pie, lima beans, hot cakes, corn on the cob, lettuce and tomato salad, dumplings, deep-fried catfish, macaroni and cheese, chitlins, pigs’ feet, string beans, and sweet potato pie. Those are quite the Sunday dinners!

Released 1997
Written and directed by George Tillman, Jr.

Starring Vanessa Williams as Teri, Vivica A. Fox as Maxine, Nia Long as Robin/“Bird,” Michael Beach as Miles, Mekhi Phifer as Lem, Brandon Hammond as Ahmad, Jeffrey D. Sams as Kenny, Gina Ravera as Faith, Irma P. Hall as Mother Joe, Carl Wright as Reverend Williams, and Mel Jackson as Simuel

Awards: 1998 Acapulco Black Film Festival Award for Best Actress (Fox) and Best Film; 1998 Image Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture (Williams), Outstanding Motion Picture, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (Hall), and Outstanding Youth Actor (Hammond)