Food: A Link in African American Culture Four different people, four different lifestyles, all with at least one thing in commontheir races (or so we have yet to discover). I began my interviews wanting to show the similarities and differences in eating habits and traditions with the African American perspective in mind. Although race is used as the combining factor in this situation, each individuals lifestyle, cultural behavior, and even eating habits are all very unique. My interviewees consisted of four Americans, as mentioned before all of same race, with similar yet very distinct backgrounds. They range from a black Jew, to a Jamerican, to what I would call a traditional southerner, right on down to a modern day Muslim. They all agreed to fill me in and reveal to others the details of their personal history and family backgrounds. Geography, family tradition, and religion all play factors in what they eat as it always has dating back to ancestral times. I began with JJ Alex; a 20 year old African American male from the east coast. He is a middle class college student. JJ Alex sounds like your typical college student but he is far from typical. What singles him out from many of his other peers is his religion. You might ask, How would his religion relate to his eating lifestyle unless hes a Muslim? He couldnt possibly be Jewishor could he? A black Jewbetter known as a Seventh Day Holiness. His great grandfather was a Rabbi and the basic teachings in his religion are as followed: his faith believes the Sabbath (day of rest) to begin at sunset on Friday lasting until sunset on Saturday; some worshippers wear Yarmulke; his faith also follows the Old Testament of the Bible; and they wear the Star of David. These beliefs in the Judaic way of life absolutely affect the food that is prepared in his house. JJ Alex mentioned that in Judaism one does not eat of unclean animals, which of course entails the meat of a pig or...
