Would You Rather Eat Your Meals With Friends Or Enemies?
Have you ever been invited to eat at a table where love was present? Even if it was your own, the empowerment that comes from a welcome table restores our souls, regardless of what was served. There’s no better example of this than potlikker.
Proverbs 15:17 reminds us, “Better a small serving of vegetables with love
than a fattened calf with hatred.” Our ancestors kept potlikker, the broth left after cooking a pot of greens, after preparing meals for their enslavers, who considered it something to be thrown away.
We used the superfood to sustain our bodies and serve as the basis for other sauces, soups, and meals. The same potlikker that kept our ancestors alive under brutal, subhuman conditions is the same one that exists anywhere our people gather to eat today.
Potlikker is packed with iron and vitamins A, C, and K. Enslaved people used it to cure illnesses and to fortify their spirits. We strengthen our spirits when we radically reimagine our world, just as potlikker was extended outside kitchens.
Whether we add cornbread, black-eyed peas, or meat, potlikker is made better when we add our own twist. Sharing our experiences in community is better than feasting on the crumbs racism throws at us.
Potlikker has always been underestimated, but it is a powerhouse. The truth is when we move unified in love, even the skin and bones of hatred cannot survive.
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