For millions of Americans, when you say "comfort food", we're talking soul food!

Cornbread, black eyed peas, collard greens, mac and cheese and sweet potato pie.

And don't leave out regional dishes: Peach cobbler, shrimp and grits, Hoppin' John, numerous barbecues, Maryland blue crab, and chitlins.

Soul food, a collection of regional cuisines, found its start in one of the most impactful human rights violations in world history.

Enslaved people took meager rations and imagined a food tradition that incorporates complex umami flavor with locally sourced ingredients.

So how did these beloved dishes transform from morsels for survival into a thriving source of cultural culinary pride?

The story of soul food starts in Western and Central Africa.

Here, communities developed unique methods of cultivating rice and frying meats.

They ate what was nearby, okra, cowpeas, African peaches, and eggplant, taro, plantain, and a variety of leafy greens.

Marinated meat was complemented with often spicy sauces, and scooping food with fufu or bread was common.

Recipes were spread through oral tradition, and in many West African cultures, women organized community meals.

This all changed drastically with the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Oral tradition in African descendant communities includes stories of indigenous African seeds, braided into women's hair before the torturous sea journey.

It's hard to confirm these accounts, as you can assume, historical records of the time didn't respect the resilience of the enslaved.

However, we do know that eventually slave ships did stock West African staples to help improve survival rates of the enslaved.

Here we see the beginnings of African people preserving their indigenous food.

Remember, some of the people kidnaped were already skilled farmers.

West African crops were stolen to feed both captive and crew.

Women cooked starches from home, replacing the horse beans and rotting meat they were initially forced to eat.

The newly enslaved Africans used every opportunity to ensure that if they survived, their ancestors' seeds would survive with them.

This effort led to the introduction of dozens of new species to the Americas.

From 1501 to 1867, almost 13 million Africans were transported across the Atlantic.

Of the 10 million people who survived the journey, only 4% were sent to the US.

Here, a group of captured people converted slave rations, French cooking techniques, Native American crops, and African agricultural knowledge into what we now call soul food.

From the 16th to the 19th centuries, enslaved cooks in America fed people in the fields, in the main house, and were ready to serve any guests at any time of day.

But what diet could possibly sustain a person with a 16 to 18 hour work day?

Well, it couldn't be the slave rations, which were as little as 5 pounds of starch and a few pounds of meat per week.

Even worse, rations were reduced for people who were pregnant, elderly or young.

So how could this feed an entire family?

Many of the most iconic soul foods you can enjoy today - collard greens, red beans and rice.

ham hocks, cornbread, chitlins, fried fish, pig feet - stemmed out of necessity.

Some enslaved people petitioned to not only hunt and gather local plants, but to keep garden plots to supplement their malnourished diets.

They planted the same crops as indigenous people and included sweet potatoes, corn, beans, and squash in their recipes.

Watermelon, grown from seeds carried over on slave ships, were planted as a saving grace for field workers during hot days in the sun.

Enslaved people also grew okra plants, which could be used for soups and medicines.

They noted what indigenous people like the Haudenosaunee and Cherokee ate, and modified ancient dishes to fit their new climate.

Soul food's iconic chicken dishes may be due to laws or slave codes that dictated how slaves could behave.

There was a loophole in these codes.

Enslaved people, typically unpaid and barred from ownership, could keep chickens, sell them in markets, and save the proceeds.

These garden raised chickens provided necessary sustenance and in some cases, allowed people to buy their freedom.

They used all parts of the chicken: feet, neck, gizzards, and used frying techniques they knew traditionally.

They observed indigenous methods of smoking meats and drying fruits as a means of food preservation.

Enslaved people preserved food in potato holes for times of need or resistance, as some of their ancestors did in Igbo culture.

These cooking methods laid the groundwork for barbecue.

Unfortunately, enslaved people's skills as farmers and chefs were turned into a public joke.

Minstrel shows and cartoons spread harmful imagery of Black Americans, mocking the food enslaved people cultivated for sustenance.

This legacy lasted long after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.

In the late 19th century, Black Americans were oppressed by laws defining what freedom meant for their communities.

These laws tried to prevent them from gathering in groups or owning land.

That didn't stop newly freed people during reconstruction from starting catering businesses, selling plates on trains or through food carts.

Black Americans became private chefs and created cookbooks to define their down-home cooking.

Millions of black people fled southern segregation during the Great Migration.

This regional cuisine was transported from the Deep South throughout America to places like Chicago, New York, LA, and Philadelphia.

In fact, my own grandfather, Claude Suggs, was part of this exodus from the South.

He moved from North Carolina and became a street vendor in Philadelphia, where he sold plants for people's urban gardens and taught people how to grow their own fruits and vegetables.

By the time the phrase soul food was popularized outside of the black community in the 60s, there were long established eateries, barbecue joints, fisheries, and carryout spots already serving soul food.

Don't be mistaken!

Soul food is not a monolith.

In his book about the cuisine, Adrian Miller describes that soul food's origins can be separated into zones.

Chesapeake Bay cuisine around Maryland, Creole and Cajun in the lower Mississippi region, Low country cuisine in the Carolinas and Georgia, and Black Belt cuisine.

In the Chesapeake Bay, they caught blue crabs, made beaten biscuits, and cooked hominy.

In the low country, they made shrimp and grits and turned rice fields into Hoppin' John, okra, pilau, and red rice.

Creole and Cajun food was heavy on the spice, using okra from West Africa and French influences to make dishes like gumbo and jambalaya.

Black belt food incorporates more pork and corn, like smothered pork chops, pulled pork, and cornbread.

Distinct spit roasting, smoking, and barbecue styles developed, with regions arguing to this day about who has the best barbecue recipe, but that needs its own video.

Although it was invented over centuries as part of the mostly forced fusion of cultures, it has become one of the most comforting and enduring cuisines of our time.

Its origin story is actively platformed by people like chef and historian Michael Twitty, who does re-enactments of the daily workload of enslaved cooks.

Adrian Miller, Jessica B Harris, and many more historians have written extensively on the origins of soul food.

Some secret soul food recipes are still passed down through generations through oral traditions, and if you're lucky, you may be able to taste them for yourself.

Some of my favorite soul food dishes are fried chicken, collard greens, barbecue ribs, and fried catfish.

But the best meals are the ones made with love.