‘Lil FoodSpook Remembers Fried Chicken

In the 1950′s WWII was over. People all over the world had to take a breath and realize the war is over. What now? We were faced with another war in Korea. We sent our young men to maintain our vision of democracy in another country. So, what does this have to do with fried chicken? The 1950′s were boom years for America.  President Eisenhower decreed that a national highway system would be built. It was. The highway system created suburbs which in turn, created tract homes and shopping malls.  America was on the fast track to all out consumerism. Fast food restaurants had not taken over Americans eating habits yet. There were many famous burger stops along Highway 99 in California and Route 66 going coast to coast. MacDonald’s hadn’t taken over the country yet. People still ate most of their meals at home.

My Dad was a preacher.  His church was 280 miles from Richmond, California in a town off Highway 99 in the heart of San Joaquin Valley, called Madera. That’s 22 miles north of Fresno. We left Richmond at 5:30 AM on Sunday mornings to drive down Highway 99 to be at Sunday School in Madera by 8:30 AM. My dad drove us up and down that  highway every Sunday morning before daybreak for five years.  On Saturdays my mother would wash a dozen white shirts in a galvanized tub, add the bluing agent and bleach, and then iron them all to a professional finish.  We grew chickens in Richmond.  Most Black families raised their own chickens and some pigs. My mother would ring the necks of three hens on Saturday morning, put them in boiling water to loosen the feathers. She would cut them up and fry them and that would be our Sunday morning snack and lunch at the church. My sisters and I used to chase the chickens around the yard after their necks were snapped and they didn’t know they were dead yet. That was fun for us in Richmond in the 1950′s. My people were right out of the south. Success in working with the land was not a southern acquired life skill, but a lifetime of living skills handed down through our African ancestors brought by them to this alien land.                   

As a kid , I grew up with fried chicken. My mother fixed smothered chicken feet, which cost 29 cents a pound back then. Do you eat chicken feet?  These dishes were really good to eat. Mashed potatoes and gravy was one of my favorites. Collard greens and salt pork was mandatory at least twice a week. This diet was not healthy but it was traditional in Black homes and nobody questioned whether our diet was safe or not. Our health was not an issue. The food industry today is not concerned about anybody’s health. It will package and sell you anything. The F.D.A. is a joke. This government is not  protecting us from our own American food companies,  and now we are  being invaded by poison food products from abroad, like from China. There is a reason for the epidemic of diabetes in this country.  It is NOT an accident of nature!  

My parents were good people.  They pooled all of their energy to raise 7 children. The foods they grew up with in the South was the only food they knew about. My siblings and I were well nourished but not so much nutritionally nourished. I am still alive at age 60. I’m trying to tell you to Not trust adults with your nutrition. If you are young, be a maverick. Try to eat healthy. If you can, do your research and try to convince your parent or parents that you are aware of a different blueprint of living. This is your life. One day the people you know as parents, aunts and uncles, will die. Please think about yourself and your long-run life presence on Earth. A different way of eating can change your life in marvelous ways.

Fried foods are not good for you. Of course one can eat fried chicken on occasion, but not on a frequent basis. People are dying because of the food choices their parents handed down to them. Your parents didn’t know about fast food.  They trusted America and our food industry. What we have learned about food is not enough to offset the bogus advertising we are being bombarded with in the media by the food industry  This is no Joke! You don’t have to live with eating Macdonald’s and Burger King.  Don’t trust our food industry dictate to you and  your children what we should eat. Don’t trust our food industry to regulate itself. It won’t. This industry will sell you as much garbage as they can convince you to buy. My parents only knew nutrition as it was handed down to them from the slavery days. They handed the same eating traditions down to me. People today have access to unlimited information for nutrition and healthy living. Take advantage of this information. Do not take for granted that life will inherently take care of you. That’s a crap shoot. Trust in yourself, do some research and take charge of your future. 

This blog site is dedicated to providing information about avoiding diabetes and maintaining one’s good health. I beg you, do not trust what you see, or listen too about foods in this country. You are being deceived. You can lose your life!

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