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Greens, beans and economic justice

Soul Food Sunday encourages black churchgoers to support black-owned mom-and-pops.

By Justin George Times Staff Writer
Published October 19, 2007

It is the Lord's day at Kountry Kitchen, where some swear by the smothered pork chops that owner Donna Padgett cooks up.

Well, that would actually go against the "Country Commandments" on the back wall of this soul food restaurant on Hillsborough Avenue.

No. 3: "No cuss'n."

But the crowd that gathers this particular Sunday - after the pews emptied out - needs no reminder, what with the radio tuned to gospel music and the choir belting out, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."

That's a psalm business leader Candy Lowe takes to heart. But right now she does want, a country-style meal, that is: chitlins and rice, corn bread and collard greens, okra and tomatoes and a tall glass of iced tea.

While she waits for her order, the radio DJ switches from church to state, wondering why polls show Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama split among black voters. Disappointed that Obama isn't dominating, the DJ asks a question crucial to this dinner crowd: Why can't black people support their own?

Indeed, that's why Lowe and others are here.

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Soul food on Sunday. It was a tradition for many black families in Florida, Lowe said. A time for everyone to gather 'round and tell the same stories over and over until they were memorized by the young to pass on to the next generation. A time when "pass the greens" or "pass the corn bread" carried an additional life message: sharing.

Soul food. Food for the soul.

"It makes me smile," said Lowe, who owns Candy Lowe Tea Time, a tea shop in the historic Harbor Club, a complex of black-owned businesses in Sulphur Springs. "It reminds me consistently of my grandmother and my great-grandmother and going up to Georgia and taking your shoes off and having good meatloaf with onions."

Church and soul food seemed a fitting pair on Sundays. But families grew too busy in recent decades. Instead of sharing dinners at the dining table, many black families end up at Golden Corral or Piccadilly after church.

"It was in the homes when we came up," said Eric Holland, a caterer who came to the Kountry Kitchen with his family after West Shore Baptist Church let out. "But now we don't cook as much."

Lowe, president of the Black Business Bus Tour, which showcases African-American businesses, had an epiphany three months ago standing in line at a Buddy Freddy's buffet. It was a Sunday, and the wait for a table was an hour and a half. As she stood in line, she looked around and saw four African-American pastors. The entire restaurant was packed with black people.

Lowe thought about some of the 11 soul food restaurants that the Suncoast African American Chamber of Commerce estimates are in Hillsborough County. Many are mom-and-pop shops fighting for attention with few advertising dollars to spare.

"I thought about every one of those places and on Sundays, they don't have that. I want to see every seat taken. I want to see people standing in a line for hours," Lowe said. "We're losing our tradition because of lack of support, lack of knowing."

There are 330 African-American churches in Hillsborough County, according to an African-American faith-based directory put out by the University of South Florida in 2005.

Lowe wondered what would happen if just a quarter of churchgoers skipped a chain buffet for a soul food restaurant.

"A lot of black businesses are going out of business because we aren't supporting them," said Randall Milliner, a DJ who goes by Randall C. on WTMP-AM 1150.

He, along with other stations, have put Lowe on the air to promote "Soul Food Sunday." She has enlisted the help of African-American pastors, to get the word out to their congregations.

But it's not just publicity Lowe seeks for black restaurateurs. She also wants to change perceptions.

She said she often hears black customers complain that black-owned restaurants are too crowded or lack good service. They serve nothing but fried food, she said, and the restaurants are shabby. These claims are long-standing stereotypes that need to be eradicated, she said.

"We're not lazy," she said. "We built this country."

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At Lowe's table at the Kountry Kitchen is the Rev. Willie Dixon, 76. Fresh from church, he recalls working at segregated country clubs that wouldn't allow him to eat there. That's a history lesson that younger folks need to remember when they go from sermon to supper, he said.

"When I was coming up, this was the only place we could come to," he said. "It's okay to go to Piccadilly. It's okay to go to Red Lobster.

"But why don't we support our own?"

[Last modified October 18, 2007, 07:10:54]