Among African-American artists of the 1920s–1950s, dinner is not at a fixed hour: you eat after the curtain falls, late at night, in merry groups returning from cabarets. The meal revolves around a large simmered dish (the star), flanked by long-braised greens and a sweet bread for sopping up gravy, then closes with a comforting sweet. This is not the French entrée/plat/dessert grid: it is a generous, communal spread inherited from the South and transplanted to Harlem, where everything arrives together and you help yourself freely — 'soul' food before it was given that name.

Umami pillar of soul food: a smoked, salty piece that is almost not eaten but flavors greens and broths for hours. Along with molasses (the poor man's sugar of the South), it gives Harlem dishes their deep foundation — salty, smoky, and comforting.