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LIFESTYLES
7A
THURSDAY
May 27,1993
' By Cassandra Wynn
; THE CHARLOTTE POST
j Until now, soul food has
i not had space on the shelves
j of American grocery stores.
' The Chinese have LaChoy;
' Italians have Chef Boyardee,
^^Ragu and Prego and middle
i^Amerlca has Delmonte and
i'Green Giant.
; Some black Ohio entre-
* pfeneurs are making sure
that down-home Afrlcan-
TAinffican cuisine can posi-
I tionJLtself right beside the
products shoppers have
bcjp^t for years. So far, they
ijprt great results.
Foods, scheduled to
^ debut in Carolina
F&d^lon stores in July, is
th^^^irst national line of
■ pack^ed, pnd canned soul
! food. Tlie Company, based in
; Columbps. Ohio, offers 17
; products, including sweet po-
; tames, bollard, turnip, mus-
• tdrd?aind*jkale greens, pinto
; beans, blackeye and field
; peas., great northern beans,
;! homestyle cornbreads, hot
;! sauce, peppered vmegar and
J okra.
I; Folks from Glory Foods
; f Tike^ to call their products
;! "’African-American cuisine."
Like the foods coming from
I; grandma’s kitchen that stew
II and simmer for hours, these
! 'foods have been cooked in
Glory Foods’ kitchens "with
the right combination of in
gredients to give the taste of
African-American Southern
cuisine," said Toni Shorter,
Glory Foods’ marketing
manager.
Although the vegetables
have meat flavoring, they
have no fatback. "We have
developed recipes that stimu
late the taste without grease
content. It does have meat
flavoring, but It is low in
cholesterol," Shorter said.
Contemporary lifestyles
don’t lend themselves lo
cleaning vegetables and
cooking all day like people
used to do, said Shorter. Glo
ry officials figure they will
appeal to black women who
want to feed their families
like their mothers did but
don’t want to cook from
scratch.
"Once we can get people to
taste our products, we can
sell them," Shorter said.
The products went on the
shelves in the Columbus
stores a year ago. ’The test
marketing went very well,"
Shorter said. The next test
market was Atlanta. ’We
chose Atlanta because of its
national and international
profile. And we wanted to
test Southern acceptance to
the foods. We rolled out the
products in January and so
far they are going well." The
Carollnas will be the third
market.
Just Like Mama's
Ohio Company Markets Soul In A Can
mi
I
pinto BEi
i■lip
S illilNS
IliiiiifHI
I B
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
African American consumers can now buy soul food in a can frt>m the grocery stores. Glory Foods products are flavored to have a down home, Southern taste.
But Carolina grocery
shelves will not be the only
connection for Glory Foods
in this area.
The food ime Just signed on
a collective of black S.C.
farmers to help grow their
foods. The contract will
mean 300 additional acres of
food grown by blacks who
have small- and medium-
size farms. Already, Glory
Foods uses the Effingham
and McCall farms in S.C.
’We feel positive about the
new relationship," Shorter
said. "Now these farmers
don’t have to compete with
the big cash crop farmers.
They have a guaranteed mar
ket."
Working with other black
businesses is a part of the
ideology for the soul food
company. ’We try very hard
as a company to promote
black businesses through
subcontracting. It was im
portant to us to have black
farmers do business with us.
We want to open up all areas
with a lot of black participa
tion. The South Carolina
farmers will grow blackeye
peas, pmto beans, field peas
and great northern beans.
Glory Foods Is the first na
tional line of canned and
packaged foods directed to
ward blacks. The idea of de
veloping traditional African
American foods started from
a conversation between Glo-
ry Foods president William
"BlU" Williams and vice
president for production Dan
Chama, who both have de
grees m food science. ’They
were talking about the tradi
tional foods people cook dur
ing the holidays and decided
that there were no conven
ient traditional foods on the
market that black people
eat."
Out of the discussion grew
more intense interest and re
search on the idea of devel
oping canned and packaged
foods for black people.
They sought professional
assistance from Ohio State
University Department of
Food Science and Technolo
gy. It took three years to per
fect the products and then
more time was put mto test-
mg and marketmg the prod
ucts. In 1992, the products
were put on the market.
What's In A Name? Renewed African Roots
By Cyndl Roberts
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA-Long before Ya-
Maya Clmone Pugh was
bom. her mother had al
ready picked her name.
"I had known a young lady
several years ago named Ya-
Maya, and I always said if I
had a daughter I would name
her YaMaya. I Just named
her that because It was dif
ferent," said LaRhonda Gll-
strap, 22, a computer science
student.
YaMaya, who was born
March 9, was In the nursery
at Crawford Long Hospital m
Atlanta with Tria Armania
Holloway, Jamecia Thermu-
tus Hawkins and Ja-Min
O’Haad Newson.
The explosion of originali
ty in naming children has
touched nearly every class,
race and region but experts
say it’s largely the legacy of
black Americans.
"Blacks are refusing to
take white people’s names.
They are saying we are dif
ferent. We are going to have
our own Christmas holi
day: we are going to have
our own names," said Leo
nard Ashley, author of
"What’s in a Name?" and an
English professor at Brook
lyn College in New York.
At the turn of the century
the 10 most popular names
in each gender category suf
ficed for half of all boys
and girls, Ashley said.
Today the top 10 accounts
for an estimated 25 percent
of all American names, he
said. The other 75 percent
are in large part names
rarely seen m this country
until recent years, if at all,
he said.
The quest for originality
and individuality began in
the politically turbulent
1960s and ’70s. For black
parents, the search has
meant going outside the
WASP mainstream to invent
names or dust off ancestral
ones, Ashley said.
"Basically the majority of
African-Americans are now
naming outside the tradi
tion," said Jerrilyn McGrego-
ry, a professor of African-
American studies and Eng
lish at the University of
Georgia.
"It’s a statement of cultural
identity. Some people pre
dicted it to be a fad, but it
seems to be going beyond one
generation."
Some followed the example
of Malcolm X, who after con-
vertmg to Islam adopted "El
Hajj Malik el-Shabazz." Box
ing legend Cassius Clay be
came Muhammad All.
But no one has had more in
fluence than the late Alex
Haley, whose book "Roots"
Inspired many black Ameri
cans to trace their African
origins. "Klnte," the surname
of the book’s hero "Kunta,"
began popping up, as did
"Klzzie," the character’s
daughter, McGregory said.
Traditionally, black names
have not been different from
white names in the United
States.
Atlanta bookstore owner
Nla Damall was "Pat" before
she changed her name to re
flect her African roots in
1986, when she published
her book "Golden Names for
an African People."
Her 6-month-old son, Se-
kou Ebun Malika, has an Af
rican forename.
"People asked, ’Where did
you get that name? Is his fa
ther African?’ I said. Well
he’s African-American,’’’
said Damali, who wouldn’t
say what her birth surname
was.
Funmilayo Nonye-John, a
native of Nigeria who has
been a maternity ward nurse
at Crawford Long for five
years, says black parents fre
quently ask her to help them
choose an African name.
"I try to educate people how
to give a name,” she said.
"People make up names.
There’s a lot of ’sha’ names
that are not really African
names."
Some don’t care whether a
name is African as long as it
has a nice ring and isn’t An
glo-Saxon.
The result Is a treasure
trove of names pieced togeth
er from various sources -
Swahili, Yoruba, Spanish,
French - and a lot of imagin
ation.
"Blacks are creating names
out of bits and pieces of
names." Ashley said. "The
mam thmg they sound is Af
rican-American. They’re
fake African names, but they
are genuine African-
American names."
"Da," "La,” "Sha" and "Ja"
names have emerged as
among the most popular m-
gredients. Hence "Lavar,"
’’LaKeisha,’’ ’’LaTonya,’’
"Jabar," ’’Sheshandra,’’
"Daquisha."
For her master’s thesis, she
analyzed birth records from
Gary, Ind., from 1945 to 1980
and found more unconven
tional names over the years.
Forty percent of the girls
bom in Gary in 1980 had
unique names, she said.
Overall, none of the names
could be considered popular.
Of 274 girls bom m 1980, 213
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