By Pat Tanner Special Writer
“Making it do” is the phrase historian Marilyn Herod employs to describe the origins of soul food.
“Food in the time of slavery was all about putting something together when you don’t have much to start with. With making it do,” she told the group who had gathered in the kitchen of Promise Jobs Culinary School in New Brunswick earlier this month for an evening of food and stories from the African diaspora.
Emblematic foods, Ms. Herod said, include okra (known as gumbo in Africa), sesame seeds (benne), black-eyed peas, sweet potatoes, string beans, and cornmeal. She cited the many influences on soul food, including Spanish, Cajun, Creole, French, and Native American, in addition to those of Senegal and Ghana. Ms. Herod’s research has taken her from New Jersey to Ghana, Louisiana, and even Alaska (she mentioned how prevalent salmon is in soul food). A current area of interest for her is documenting how slaves would secret away seeds in their hair as a way of supplementing the meager foodstuffs they were forced to subsist on.
Charles Glenn-El, the evening’s other guest speaker, is an organic farmer and professor at the University of Delaware. His Alhambra Organic Farm in Atco, Camden County, has three acres under cultivation and has been certified organic for seven years. He specializes in organic heirloom cucumbers and okra, but grows several varieties of more than 20 different crops, which he sells almost exclusively through shares in his c.s.a (community supported agriculture) program .
Mr. Glenn-El seeks out unusual varieties of okra, collards, kale, mustard greens, turnips, and watermelon. He told that group that okra is one of his favorite vegetables and that there are many varieties, such as Red Velvet and Burgundy. “Each variety has a different texture, taste, and nuance,” he said lovingly.
Mr. Glenn-El is a self-described strict vegetarian, and further identifies himself as a transplanted Philadelphian, whose family roots are in South Carolina. “Part of my quest, growing up in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia, was to grow the vegetables I remembered seeing at the local farmers market in that ethnically mixed neighborhood,” he said.
While Ms. Herod and Mr. Glenn-El addressed the group, guests were treated to a tasting menu of the very foods they discussed, courtesy of Chef Pearl Thompson, director of Promise Jobs Culinary School, and her students. The school is an outgrowth of Elijah’s Promise, the soup kitchen and social services organization that has been helping low-income people in central New Jersey since 1989. The school offers full-time, intensive training in the culinary arts, life skills, job-readiness skills, and hands-on work experience in the food service industry.
First came a salad of pickled vegetables — including okra — with goat cheese and baby greens grown in the school’s own garden right behind its Livingston Avenue location. Creamy sweet potato soup with a hint of ginger from the Caribbean followed. The main event was tender, flavorful Brazilian-spiced chicken — Brazil has the largest population of people of African descent in the Western Hemisphere — with a side of brown rice topped with an Indian-inspired stew of okra and tomatoes with masala. The show-stopping dessert was house-made spice ice cream topped with crescent- shaped benne cookies.
Below are two recipes from Chef Thompson’s folder of favorites. Pickling, she told the group, was a mainstay of cooking in the American South. I made it using frozen thumb-sized okra, which can be found at Middle Eastern markets such as Phoenician Market in North Brunswick. As for the Brazilian chicken: The coconut milk mixed with the warm spices makes it irresistible.
PICKLED VEGETABLE SALAD
WITH GOAT CHEESE AND BABY GREENS
adapted by Chef Pearl Thompson,
Promise Jobs Culinary School
1 tablespoon coarse salt, plus more to taste
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 cup whole okra (green beans may be substituted)
2 beets, peeled and quartered
*Pickling liquid, hot (recipe follows)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound baby greens
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon salt.
Prepare a large bowl of ice water and set aside.
Cook the cauliflower for 3 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer florets to ice water; allow to cool completely. Drain.
Cook the okra according to the package and cool.
Place beets in a small pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, cook for 15 minutes, and drain.
Layer the vegetables into a 2-quart pickling jar.
Reserve ¼ cup pickling liquid and pour the remainder over the vegetables, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
When ready to serve, whisk olive oil into the reserved pickling liquid. Toss with the greens and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Arrange vegetables on plates with greens in the center and sprinkle goat cheese on top. Extra vegetables will keep, refrigerated for 1 week.
Serves 6.
*Pickling Liquid
1½ cups cider vinegar
1½ cups water
¾ cup sugar
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons coarse salt
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon whole coriander
2 teaspoons white peppercorns
1 teaspoon whole cloves
In a large pot, bring all ingredients to a boil. Stir to combine. While liquid is hot, pour over vegetables.
Makes about 3 cups.
BRAZILIAN-SPICED OVEN- ROASTED CHICKEN
adapted by Chef Pearl Thompson,
Promise Jobs Culinary School
1 tablespoons minced jalapeno (about 1 large chile)
1½ tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 2 lemons
½ cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 chicken, about 3½ pounds
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine jalapeno, garlic, salt, paprika, turmeric, black pepper, zests, and coconut milk to form a paste. Rub chicken skin and inner cavity with spice paste. Tie chicken to secure legs. Bake in a roasting pan for 25 minutes; reduce oven to 350 degrees and bake 30 minutes more, or until juices run clear.
Serves 4.

