06/12/2023
WHY WE EAT RED FOODS FOR JUNETEENTH
Juneteenth was not widely known to the public. The ancestors had to celebrate it in secrecy.
They would celebrate Juneteenth around rivers and lakes. They would eat red things like strawberries, they would drink a choice of strawberry soda, they would eat red velvet cake to pay homage to the blood spilled during slavery,”
Red, in many West African cultures, is a symbol of strength, spirituality, and life and death. It’s possible this cultural legacy along with these groups’ distinct food knowledge of okra, beans, melons, and many other food groupings—some red, some not—was brought across the Atlantic.
