Southern Discomfort And Restaurants
Black patrons outside of a eatery in the south (courtesy of the Library of Congress)
A food system is how a society produces, processes, distributes, prepares, consumes food, and disposes of food waste. Here’s a look into the southern food system and restaurants during Jim Crow from James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. In the book there is a scene in which the protagonist is looking for a restaurant in turn of the century Atlanta, Georgia without success. Eating outside one’s home in a southern city as an African American meant enduring insults or subpar restaurants. Why, because Jim Crow systematically created racist barriers to accessing capital, licenses, and sourcing food for black entrepreneurs set on owning and operating upscale restaurants. As a result, well-to-do African-Americans often did their fine dining with Invited guest in their homes.
