This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 8, 2013 - “Good Lord, good meat, c’mon let's eat.”
If you were raised eating barbecued pig's feet, fried chicken, butter beans, mustard greens with ham hocks, biscuits smothered in gravy, you and filmmaker Bryon Hurt both grew up with soul food. This Wednesday night, the Nine Network and History Museum's Community Cinema night will show “Soul Food Junkies,” a documentary wor th watching regardless whether your heart yearns for any of the dishes mentioned above or if just reading the word "butter beans" makes you want to hit the gym.
Hurt speaks with cooks, historians, scholars, doctors, family members and the general public about the deep-rooted traditions of soul food in black culture and the effects of this cuisine on the soul-food loving population.
"Soul food should be called death food cause it will kill you," says an elderly man interviewed in the film.
"It is almost like you eat, you get big, you go to college, you get your education, you get your diabetes, you get your high blood pressure and then you die," says a woman interviewed.
Hurt talks to about a hundred people capturing multiple scenes that explain the predicament: You just can’t say no to a Southerner's soul food. Putting manners aside, these unhealthy eating habits may be hard to change due to socio-economic conditions in predominantly black neighborhoods that make it difficult to find healthy options. As an interviewee explains to Hurt, "in America, there is a class-based apartheid in the food system."
“Soul Food Junkies” highlights pioneers in the local food movement who are challenging the food industry to support local farmers, avoid highly processed food and cook healthier versions of soul food.
In addition to screening the film this event will highlight local St. Louis pioneers with a similar mission. A panel discussion following the film will include Jennifer Strayhorn, executive director of HOPEBUILD, which runs the Gardens of Hope program that created urban gardens in previously unused and neglected green spaces around St. Louis; and Reine Bayoc who owns Sweet Art, a bakeshop, cafe, gallery. Bayoc Sweet Art features vegan dishes and Bayoc will provide cookies for the event.
Information tables will showcase regional movers and shakers who are trying in enhance the education and importance of healthy eating. They include Erin Murdock with HealthStreet, an organization that deals with a variety of community health issues including healthy eating habits and access to healthy foods; Maddie Earnest and Liz Fathman, who wrote Missouri Harvest Guide Book; Sarah Fowler Dixon, with WUSTL Diversity Health Initiatives whose project covers a variety of health/diversity issues; and Molly Rockamann with Earth Dance Farms.
The film is part of the Community Cinema Series, a partnership among Nine Network, Independent Television Service (ITVS) and Missouri History Museum.