Photos by l^yla Garros
Dr. Margaret Savoca introduces N'Gai Dickerson (left) and Dr. John Card to the audience.
h
Film, discussion probe dangers
of down-home goodness
BY LAYLA GARMS
THE CHRONICLE
The triumphs and pit
falls of Soul Food were
explored during the
screening of an award
winning documentary at
The Enterprise Center
Tuesday.
More than 50 commu
nity members were on
hand for the showing of
"Soul Food Junkies," a
provocative documentary
that delves into the tradi
tion of Soul Food, which
filmmaker Byron Hurt
describes as a "sacra
ment, ritual and key
expression of cultural
identity" and how it
relates to eating habits in
the black community and
beyond.
"Communities of
color, we are facing a
health crisis," Dr.
Vanessa Duren-Winfield,
director of research for
Winston-Salem State
University School of
Health Sciences, said in
introducing the film. "...
Data doesn't lie, and we
African American
minorities lead the nation
in obesity, heart disease.
ny pertension
and diabetes.
We're killing
ourselves slow
ly with this
food, y'all "
Following
the devastating
loss of his
father to pan
creatic cancer,
which some
researchers
believe can be linked to a
high-fat. low Tiber diet.
Hurt began traversing the
country to learn more
about the Soul Food that
he believes contributed to
his father's death, the
cooking and eating tradi
tions that have been
handed down for genera
tions, and the steps some
people are taking to
change those habits for
themselves and the next
generation.
"I hope that they
enjoy it, that they talk
about it, and to whatever
level that they want to be,
are inspired by it because
there are a lot of things
about it that make people
believe in change," said
Dr. Margaret Savoca, a
research fellow with the
Public Health Science
division of WFU Medical
School's Epidemiology
Department who spear
headed the Foodways &
Roadways effort along
with SG Atkins CDC
Executive Director Carol
Davis. "...What we're
doing is starting to open,
I hope, doors for a lot of
people."
The film, which was
aired on PBS's
Independent Lens series,
was followed by a ques
tion and answer session
with Dr. John P. Card, an
internal medicine spe
cialist at Winston-Salem
Health Care, and The
Urban Culinarian
Director/Executive Chef
N'Gai Dickerson.
"It's an impactful
movie that goes back to
the history of who we are
and why we do what we
do," said Card, an inter
nal health spe
cialist at
Novant Health
Winston-Salem
Health Care.
"What 1 got
from the film is
it laid the foun
dation and
where we need
to go "
The audi
ence ques
tioned the men about
adopting healthier
lifestyles, forgoing cook
ing traditions that have
carried on for genera
tions, and encouraging
their children and fami
lies to embrace healthier
meal options.
"You have, to start
early - you've got to starts
young. You've got to have
children understanding
that there's a different
way of doing things,"
Dickerson said. "If you
start young and give them
that advice that they
need, show them how to
do it ... then that
becomes their soul food,
that becomes their com
fort level."
Many attendees
offered testimonies about
their own eating habits
and how they have
impacted their lives. One
man said he was inspired
to make better food
choices after seeing the
film.
"It has encouraged me
tremendously, and I'm
already diabetic," he said.
"I'm going to try to do
even better now, after
watching the film."
City resident John
Raye Smith told fellow
audience members that
changing his diet may
have saved his life.
"I'm a rare person -
I'm a black man who's a
cancer survivor," he
declared. "I was diag
nosed on my 65th birth
day - colon cancer - and
I survived because 1 got
off all that meat. You just
have to stop eating cer
tain stuff, change your
diet. Since I changed my
diet, everything
changed."
Foodways &
Roadways is a great
enhancement to the work
that the Atkins CDC
(which is housed at the
Enterprise Center) is
already doing in the com
munity with respect to
food sustainability, Davis
said. The facility is
already home to a two
acre swath of land where
10 community groups
tend gardens.
"It ties right into the
garden initiative," she
said of the series. "...I
wanted people to drive
the activities here (at the
Enterprise Center), and
?.It's taken on a life of its
own. The garden is just a
prime example of that."
The "Soul Food
Junkies" event was the
first in a three-part
"Foodways & Roadways"
documentary film series
presented by Wake Forest
School of Medicine's
Translation Science
Institute, SG Atkins
CDC, WSSU School of
Health Sciences and the
Psi Phi Chapter of Omega
Psi Phi Fraternity. The
series was birthed from a
Foodways & Roadways
multi-media exhibit that
was held at the Enterprise
Center in April. The
exhibit, which employed
archival photographs,
filmed oral histories and
current photographs to
explore the changing
food environment in
recent decades, drew over
120 attendees.
"I just think that
change comes from with
in communities. That's
what's happening in other
parts of the country," said
Savoca. "...This is a
start."
"Foodways &
Roadways" will continue
on Tuesday, July 16, with
the screening of "A
Community of
Gardeners" and on
Tuesday, August 13, with
"Edible City: Grow the
Revolution." Both events
will be held at The
Enterprise Center, 1922
Martin Luther King Jr.
Drive. For more informa
tion, call 336-734-6900.
"Soul Food Junkies" is
available for sale at ama
zon .com.
Rayt
Dr. Vanessa Duren-Winfield introduces the film.
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