Traveling the Chicken Bone Express:
Food and African American Travel Experiences

Psyche Williams-Forson, assistant professor, Department of American Studies, University of Maryland, College Park
“Traveling the Chicken Bone Express: A Perspective on Food and African American Travel Experiences”
Tues., Feb. 28; 4:00 pm
Donovan Lounge, Greenlaw
UNC Campus

Free and open to the public. Light refreshments served.
Visitor Parking information here: http://www.unc.edu/visitors/parking.html

The concept of culinary tourism expresses the idea of experiencing other cultures through food. For most people, these culinary experiences occur when they visit different parts of the world, or different restaurants considered “other” or “exotic.” But culinary tourism may also be defined by trying new recipes and foods in one’s local area. Either way, it is generally defined by a sense of excitement and anticipation. But is culinary tourism always filled with levels of comfort and adventure for the traveler? Can the culinary experiences also be fraught with tension, discomfort, and even danger? For many African Americans, particularly in the South during particularly historical and cultural moments this was the case. Most African Americans were forced to seek clandestine spaces, avoid the flashing lights of hotels and motels reserved for white travelers, and prepare, store,! and consume home-cooked food—including chicken and other foods that “traveled well”—inasmuch as most eating establishments were closed to them. Thus, African American travel and touristic experiences were very separate, very unequal, and they remain an unexplored dimension of tourism studies and historical texts.

This discussion provides insight into the vital role of foodways studies in recapturing African American history. This methodology is one way to learn about the effects of segregation and the Jim Crow era on the lives of African Americans in the past, and allows us to fill in gaps in the historical record.

Psyche Williams-Forson is Assistant Professor of Race and Identity in the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland College Park. She has written several articles on African American women and foodways. Her latest book, Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power will be released June 2006 by the University of North Carolina Press.