Why This ‘Freedom Food’ Is Important To Black Culture
Black History Year
PushBlack
4.6 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 16 October 2024
⏱️ 3 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Long before they were fancy, oysters were considered "dirty" food. But they've always been crucial for us, from being used to build shelters to serving as a spiritual tool. Here's why oysters are essential to Black culture.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Imagine a delicious patty nestled between two buns with cheese and ketchup. It's not a burger. |
| 0:05.6 | That patty is actually sausage, which makes this a sandwich. A breakfast sausage sandwich, |
| 0:10.1 | the new 199 sausage sandwich from McDonald's made with RSPCA at short pork. |
| 0:15.6 | Until 11am. Price and participation may vary. Up charges and fees apply to delivery. Subjects |
| 0:19.4 | for availability. |
| 0:28.1 | Long before they were fancy, oysters were considered dirty food. But they've always been crucial for us, from being used to build shelters to serving as a spiritual tool. Here's why oysters |
| 0:35.3 | are essential to black culture. This is two-minute black history, |
| 0:40.6 | what you didn't learn in school. We've been loving oysters for centuries. Although they're |
| 0:53.0 | considered a delicacy today, they were looked down on |
| 0:56.3 | at one time. Oysters were considered a dirty food, in fact. We've never needed white approval, |
| 1:03.1 | though. Oysters have long been crucial to our culture and resistance. |
| 1:15.6 | Take Brazil. Historically, white Brazilians considered oysters peasant food. |
| 1:20.6 | Back in the day, beef and pork were costly, so Afro-Brazilian communities, called |
| 1:26.6 | Kilumbo's, made oysters something they could enjoy. |
| 1:30.3 | They even used crushed oyster shells during ancestral summoning ceremonies. |
| 1:36.3 | In New York, the oyster king, Thomas Downing, switched things up, |
| 1:42.3 | and instead of serving oysters from a street stall, he flipped |
| 1:46.2 | the game on his head. |
| 1:48.2 | Fine carpet and chandeliers made Downing's restaurant and upscale experience. |
| 1:53.9 | The best part, he used the oysters' cellar's basement as a secret stop on the Underground Railroad. |
| 2:01.6 | Now let's travel to Dalfuski, South Carolina. |
| 2:05.9 | On this historically Black Island, families lived off the land, so oysters were considered essential |
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