Not Yo’ Mama’s Fried Chicken

Black people love themselves some fried chicken. You cannot have a social function without fried chicken. Fried chicken has become such a staple of the black family household that it’s just one more thing we’re believed to have invented.

Fried chicken is a staple of traditional Scottish cuisine, originally deep fried in fat. When the Scots arrive in the rural south, they brought their recipes with them and taught the kitchen slaves how to prepare them. The slaves, who were able to bring spices from their native lands, as well as cultivate local herbs, enhanced the flavor of the chicken dishes, as well as substituting oil for fat.

Fried chicken became popular amongst slaves because they were allowed to raise chickens in their quarters, and they soon discovered that fried chicken could be kept well and eaten as snack when working in the fields.