89% of Americans Can't Name These Soul Food Dishes! Can You?

FOOD & DRINK

By: Kennita Leon

5 Min Quiz

Image: Shutterstock

About This Quiz

If you know anything about the history of "soul food, you'll know that the phrase wasn't very well known until the 1960s. It was a time when civil rights movements were popular and Black nationalists found their voices and wanted to keep their traditions, legacy and culture alive. So when terms like "soul music," "soul sister (and brother)" popped up, it was only a matter of time until the word "soul" was put in front of the word "food."

While soul food uses many recipes used by slaves, it is also food that has been cooked by African Americans living in the southern states, where slavery was more common. This kind of cuisine, while basic, is special because it is made with love, feeling and of course, lots and lots of flavors. It doesn't need fancy ingredients like foie gras, but instead uses staples that can be found in almost any home, such as beans, greens, fish and chicken.

What we want to test today is whether you know enough about soul food to name all of the items we've included in this quiz. Were you the one watching your grandmother toil over a pot of gumbo or jambalaya? Or were you too busy playing outside to correctly identify some red beans if we showed you a picture of them? Let's find out how well you know your soul food. 

Which dish is this?

Owing its name to its cooking style rather than ingredients, chicken fried steak contains no chicken. Instead, it is a breaded, fried steak.

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Which dish is this?

Made using both pork and beef, hot link sausages are just that, hot. Additional ingredients include spices, red pepper, flakes, cayenne pepper and paprika.

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Which dish is this?

Believed to have been adopted by early German settlers in the United States, there are a few variations to the potato salad.

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Which dish is this?

Crackling bread is made simply with cornmeal and crackling; crackling is a popular southern snack of fried pork rinds.

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Which dish is this?

Inherited from Native Americans, creamed corn may be home-made or store-bought. It is sometimes referred to as soup due to its partially pureed state.

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Which dish is this?

Essentially, the back fat of a pig, fatback, is used to produce sausages, bacon, pork rinds and sometimes as part of a meal along with vegetables.

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Which dish is this?

A dish most popular in Louisiana, red beans and rice was traditionally served on Mondays. The beans were prepared using leftover meat from Sunday.

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Which dish is this?

Despite its name being derived from the Bantu word for 'okra,' gumbo can be made without it. Gumbo is commonly made using a dark roux as a substitute for okra, vegetables and seafood.

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Which dish is this?

Also known as butter beans due to their buttery texture, lima beans were first exported to the United States from Lima, Peru.

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Which dish is this?

A well-liked dish among slaves during the American Civil War, Southern fried chicken is prepared by frying coated, seasoned pieces of chicken.

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Which dish is this?

Despite being tedious to make, caramel cakes are a highly praised delicacy. A moist yellow cake is smothered with a rich caramel frosting to create this classic.

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Which dish is this?

A dish quite similar to gumbo, jambalaya originated in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is prepared in the same manner as gumbo but without the use of a thickener.

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Which dish is this?

The favorite southern platter of fried fish is prepared worldwide. It is especially popular in Great Britain where it is served with fries, or chips, as they call them.

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Which dish is this?

An ordinary staple for many, sweet potatoes are used in many southern soul food dishes, the most popular of which is candied sweet potato.

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Which dish is this?

When in peak season between October and February, turnips are often combined with chunks of meat to create turnip greens; only the leaves of the turnip are used.

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Which dish is this?

Originating in the southern United States, grits are a type of porridge made from boiling ground corn.

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Which dish is this?

A primary source of distinct flavor in collard greens, beans and a few other southern dishes, the ham hock is made entirely of skin and ligaments and is found above the foot of a pig.

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Which dish is this?

A common holiday dish, pecan pies are made using pecans, a nut native to the Southern United States. Additional ingredients include sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla.

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Which dish is this?

With a long history tracing back to West Africa and slavery, red drink is considered "liquid soul." Originally made using hibiscus petals, the drink is now made using powders, such as Kool-Aid.

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Which dish is this?

A sweet delicacy, candied yams are made using garnet yams or sweet potatoes. They are sliced, bathed in a mixture of sugar and spices and then baked.

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Which dish is this?

Not to be confused with what is known as a cookie, biscuits are baked products of flour and baking soda.

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Which dish is this?

Also known as pork jowl, hog jowl is smoked pork cheeks. It is sometimes prepared as bacon or stewed with beans and greens.

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Which dish is this?

Mustard greens, like turnip greens, is prepared by combining the leaves of the mustard plant with meat bits and seasonings.

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Which dish is this?

A special at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, sweet potato pie made its first appearance in American kitchens during the colonial period.

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Which dish is this?

A Sunday special not only of African-Americans but Caribbean residents as well, macaroni and cheese is a baked pie of macaroni, cheese and milk.

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Which dish is this?

Often served with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, peach cobblers are baked, crusted dishes with a peach filling.

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Which dish is this?

Primarily a side-dish, hushpuppies accompany seafood and other fried foods. They are made by deep-frying balls of cornmeal batter.

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Which dish is this?

The external wall of a pig's stomach, hog maw is prepared by stewing, frying or baking. It is traditionally believed to affect prosperity; thus, it is eaten on New Year's Day.

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Which dish is this?

A cake made from cornmeal, hoecakes owe their name to their original form of preparation; being baked on the blade of a hoe.

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Which dish is this?

Cornbread is used widely to refer to any leavened bread made using cornmeal. It is deemed the foundation of Southern cuisine.

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Which dish is this?

Once a delicacy in the United States, pig feet or pig trotters are best prepared by slow cooking to achieve tenderness.

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Which dish is this?

As the name would suggest, pork ribs are the ribs of a pig. They are prepared by baking or grilling and are served in many restaurants.

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Which dish is this?

Collards are short, leafy plants similar to kale and broccoli. In Southern cuisine, they are often prepared with onion, garlic, oil and meat.

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Which dish is this?

A must-have item on the Thanksgiving dinner menu, turkey is enjoyed for its tender, healthier meat.

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Which dish is this?

A must-have item on the Thanksgiving dinner menu, turkey is enjoyed for its tender, healthier meat.

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Which dish is this?

Chitterlings are made from the small intestines of pigs. Their consumption dates back to the slavery period where they were fed to the slaves.

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Which dish is this?

Commonly known as ladies' fingers, okra is a thickener and main ingredient of the soul food dish, gumbo. It is the seed pod of the okra plant.

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Which dish is this?

Considered unpalatable to some, chicken liver is rich in iron and can be prepared tastily. It can be battered, deep-fried and used as pate fillings.

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Which dish is this?

A main ingredient in many soul food meals, black-eyed peas or goat peas were first cultivated in West Africa.

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Which dish is this?

Formally used to refer only to the tail of an ox, oxtail is now used when speaking of the tail of cattle. Because of its gelatin-rich composition, it is often used in soups and stews.

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