((PKG)) SOUL FOOD
((Banner: Traditional Soul))
((Reporter/Producer: Eve Unshin Lee))
((Camera/Producer: Sanghoon Lee))
((VOA Korean))
((Adapted by: Phillip Alexiou))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((NATS))
((Oji Abbott, Executive Chef, Oohh’s & Aahh’s))
Soul food is American food. I mean it was born and bred here, it was raised here, it was cultivated here, and it fed, you know, the masses since 1700s and before that.
((NATS))
((Oji Abbott, Executive Chef, Oohh’s & Aahh’s))
It’s fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, corn bread, candied yams, potato salad, things of those natures are what we sell.
((NATS))
((Alex Poscente, Customer))
Definitely the fried chicken. So, being from Texas, we ate a lot of soul food – fried chicken, waffles, green beans, corn bread, everything. But the fried chicken’s awesome.
((NATS))
((Oji Abbott, Executive Chef, Oohh’s & Aahh’s))
We have a lot of excellent guests that have come here that might be famous. Jay-Z and LeBron James, Jay Cole, he comes in all the time.
((NATS))
((Jer’mon Walker, Customer))
The story is that, like, down in the South, a lot of slaves weren’t given, like, a lot of options when it came to meal preparation. So, they had to do their best with what they had. So, taking that creativity and allowing it to string over years, it’s pretty cool and being able to enjoy it here is nice.
((NATS))
((Oji Abbott, Executive Chef, Oohh’s & Aahh’s))
Soul food moniker came from, in the 60s and 70s, when we had the Black Power movement. I mean it was about having pride in your style of cuisine, putting your soul in it.
((NATS))
((Oji Abbott, Executive Chef, Oohh’s & Aahh’s))
Black History is more than one month, but we do celebrate one month in this country, specifically for everybody to know something about African American history, and some of the things that we went through. The success stories are more than just a few that you hear about, you know, sporadically.
((NATS))
Oji Abbott: All right, what you think so far?
Customers: It’s good.
Oji Abbott: Mississippi right?
Customers: Yes.
Oji Abbott: All right. So yeah, I know some soul food, right?
Customers: We love soul food.
((NATS))
