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| Hot Links and Red Drinks: The Rich Food Tradition of Juneteenth | Hot Links and Red Drinks: The Rich Food Tradition of Juneteenth |
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| L. Kasimu Harris, a writer, artist and Louisiana native, recalled the booth his mother and father ran in Congo Square in New Orleans at a Juneteenth festival, where customers ordered crispy catfish from a handwritten poster board price list. “They sold grilled chicken and smoked sausage on pistolet,” Mr. Harris said, referring to the miniature French bread rolls, the sandwiches draped with onions and peppers. | L. Kasimu Harris, a writer, artist and Louisiana native, recalled the booth his mother and father ran in Congo Square in New Orleans at a Juneteenth festival, where customers ordered crispy catfish from a handwritten poster board price list. “They sold grilled chicken and smoked sausage on pistolet,” Mr. Harris said, referring to the miniature French bread rolls, the sandwiches draped with onions and peppers. |
| His parents cooked at festivals all over the South, as far away as Atlanta. But those Juneteenth festivals on the cobblestones in the tree-lined square remain vivid, a family event. “I helped my parents out by taking the money and handing out paper napkins,” he said. “My sister would sometimes be the opening vocalist for a musical act. My father was always on the grill, and the line was always long.” | His parents cooked at festivals all over the South, as far away as Atlanta. But those Juneteenth festivals on the cobblestones in the tree-lined square remain vivid, a family event. “I helped my parents out by taking the money and handing out paper napkins,” he said. “My sister would sometimes be the opening vocalist for a musical act. My father was always on the grill, and the line was always long.” |
| For over 150 years, African-Americans have gathered on June 19 — the day known as Juneteenth — to celebrate freedom. The holiday is rooted in Texas, signifying the day in 1865 when, more than two years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, a Union general who had made his way to Galveston delivered the news that slavery had been abolished. Texans who had been chattel erupted in triumph. | For over 150 years, African-Americans have gathered on June 19 — the day known as Juneteenth — to celebrate freedom. The holiday is rooted in Texas, signifying the day in 1865 when, more than two years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, a Union general who had made his way to Galveston delivered the news that slavery had been abolished. Texans who had been chattel erupted in triumph. |
| Many of the largest Juneteenth celebrations are still held in Texas: old-school parades with horses and souped-up cars; local bands playing; tender, fatty brisket on hand. But the day is observed widely all over the South, and in cities throughout the United States. Street fairs spring up, where R&B and gospel acts perform, and where you will find proud dandies like Mr. Harris forming lines for fried fish, spareribs or Fred Flintstone-style turkey legs. The Harlem Renaissance singer Gladys Bentley described the scene in her anthem “Juneteenth Jamboree”: “Dressed to kill from head to feet. Baskets full of food to eat. You can’t get this on your TV.” | Many of the largest Juneteenth celebrations are still held in Texas: old-school parades with horses and souped-up cars; local bands playing; tender, fatty brisket on hand. But the day is observed widely all over the South, and in cities throughout the United States. Street fairs spring up, where R&B and gospel acts perform, and where you will find proud dandies like Mr. Harris forming lines for fried fish, spareribs or Fred Flintstone-style turkey legs. The Harlem Renaissance singer Gladys Bentley described the scene in her anthem “Juneteenth Jamboree”: “Dressed to kill from head to feet. Baskets full of food to eat. You can’t get this on your TV.” |
| Some families hold picnics or cookouts. Smoke clouds billow from drum grills, scalloped-edged paper plates are pried apart, and self-appointed Southern potato salad queens set out bowls covered with crinkled aluminum foil. Chargrilled oysters may turn up on the buffet table in Mississippi; meaty baked beans appear in Kansas; in the Carolinas, add heaps of vinegar-tinged pulled pork. For dessert, pies. | Some families hold picnics or cookouts. Smoke clouds billow from drum grills, scalloped-edged paper plates are pried apart, and self-appointed Southern potato salad queens set out bowls covered with crinkled aluminum foil. Chargrilled oysters may turn up on the buffet table in Mississippi; meaty baked beans appear in Kansas; in the Carolinas, add heaps of vinegar-tinged pulled pork. For dessert, pies. |
| Red foods are customary for Juneteenth, the crimson a symbol of ingenuity and resilience in bondage. Watermelon, Texas Pete hot sauce and red velvet cake are abundant. A strawberry pie wouldn’t be out of place. Spicy hot links on the grill — most commonly made with coarsely ground beef, and artificially dyed red — are a Juneteenth staple, too, and “a distinctive African-American contribution to barbecue,” said Adrian Miller, a James Beard award-winning author and soul food expert. | Red foods are customary for Juneteenth, the crimson a symbol of ingenuity and resilience in bondage. Watermelon, Texas Pete hot sauce and red velvet cake are abundant. A strawberry pie wouldn’t be out of place. Spicy hot links on the grill — most commonly made with coarsely ground beef, and artificially dyed red — are a Juneteenth staple, too, and “a distinctive African-American contribution to barbecue,” said Adrian Miller, a James Beard award-winning author and soul food expert. |
| Red drinks, like strawberry soda and Texas-made Big Red pop, generally rule the Juneteenth bar, and link present to past. “Two traditional drinks from West Africa that had a lot of social meaning are kola nut tea and bissap,” Mr. Miller said. (Bissap is more commonly known as hibiscus tea.) Both came to the Americas with the slave trade; red kola nuts and hibiscus pods colored the water in which they were steeped. | Red drinks, like strawberry soda and Texas-made Big Red pop, generally rule the Juneteenth bar, and link present to past. “Two traditional drinks from West Africa that had a lot of social meaning are kola nut tea and bissap,” Mr. Miller said. (Bissap is more commonly known as hibiscus tea.) Both came to the Americas with the slave trade; red kola nuts and hibiscus pods colored the water in which they were steeped. |
| Traditions are changing, though. Newer-wave celebrations have become more spiritual and intimate. Wanda Blake, who handles finances for small culinary businesses and nonprofit organizations in Oakland, Calif., participates in a Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance there. It’s a day of meditation and multicultural prayer for which Ms. Blake creates an altar with symbolic foods: brightly hued produce, cornbread, black-eyed peas. | Traditions are changing, though. Newer-wave celebrations have become more spiritual and intimate. Wanda Blake, who handles finances for small culinary businesses and nonprofit organizations in Oakland, Calif., participates in a Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance there. It’s a day of meditation and multicultural prayer for which Ms. Blake creates an altar with symbolic foods: brightly hued produce, cornbread, black-eyed peas. |
| To Ms. Blake, the event is an ode to ancestors. “Juneteenth today is a collective thank-you to a people who made a way out of no way,” she said. | To Ms. Blake, the event is an ode to ancestors. “Juneteenth today is a collective thank-you to a people who made a way out of no way,” she said. |
| Recipe: Strawberry Slab Pie | |
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