Latest / The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering — Fexingo History / The Middle Passage Food: Cuisine of Survival
Transcript
- Lucas: We've talked a lot about the horrors of the Middle Passage — the shackles, the disease, the sheer numbers. But there's one thing we haven't really touched on: what did people actually eat on those slave ships? Luna: I never even thought about that. I mean, I assumed it was just — barely anything, right? Lucas: Right, but it's more complicated than that. There were actually rules — starting with the Dolben Act in 1788 — that mandated specific rations for enslaved people on British ships. The idea was to reduce mortality during the passage, which was notoriously high — sometimes 15% or more. So Parliament stepped in and said: each enslaved person must get a certain amount of food per day. Luna: What did that look like? A specific list? Lucas: Pretty much. The typical ration included a pound of rice or yams, a pint of water, and a small amount of beans or flour. Some ships also gave out salted fish or meat once or twice a week. The idea was to provide enough calories and some protein to keep people alive. But here's the catch — enforcement was terrible. Many captains ignored the rules or cut rations to fit more people in the hold. Luna: So the regulations were basically a suggestion? Lucas: Exactly. And the food itself — it was often spoiled or infested. Weevil-infested rice, weevil-infested beans. The water went bad after a few weeks. And you have to remember, these people were already malnourished from the long march to the coast and the time spent in the coastal forts — like Elmina or Cape Coast — where they were held in dungeons with minimal food. So by the time they got on the ship, many were already weak. Luna: That makes the mortality rate make sense. But what about the actual foods — where did they come from? Lucas: Great question. The staples were mostly African crops that traveled with the ships. Yams were huge — they came from the Bight of Benin region, especially around Ouidah and Dahomey. Rice from the Sierra Leone area — that was a major export. And then you had beans and — oddly — cassava, which is actually a New World crop. That had been introduced to Africa by the Portuguese centuries earlier and it became a staple on slave ships because it stores well. Luna: So the food that sustained the Middle Passage was partly African, partly American — already a mix of worlds. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the thread I want to pull on — because the foods that survived the passage didn't just sustain people; they became the foundation of diaspora cuisines. Okra, black-eyed peas, palm oil — these are all West African staples that traveled with the enslaved. On the ships, okra was used to thicken stews — it's called 'draw soup' because it's so slimy — and that tradition continued in the Caribbean and the American South. Gumbo, for instance, comes directly from the West African word for okra: 'ki ngombo' in Bantu languages. Luna: Wait, so gumbo is literally a West African dish? Lucas: In its roots, yes. And the same goes for rice and beans combos — like Hoppin' John in the American South, or rice and peas in Jamaica. Those are direct descendants of the provisions that were given on the ships. But here's the darker side: the monotony of the diet also contributed to disease. Scurvy was common because there was almost no fresh fruit or vegetables. Some captains did carry lime juice — but again, not always. And dysentery from contaminated water killed many. Luna: So the food was both a lifeline and a source of suffering. Lucas: Precisely. And it also became a tool of resistance. There are records of enslaved people on ships refusing to eat — not just out of despair, but as a form of hunger strike. For example, on the slave ship 'Vigilante' in the 1790s, a group of Igbo captives refused all food for days until the captain forced fed them. Sometimes they would barter or steal extra rations. Food was power. Luna: And that connects to something we've talked about before — how enslaved people in the Americas used food to maintain cultural identity. Lucas: Exactly. And you see that in the specific crops they demanded. On plantations, enslaved people were often given small garden plots where they grew okra, black-eyed peas, and yams — the same foods they remembered from the ship. Those gardens were spaces of autonomy. And when they cooked those foods, they were recreating a taste of home — a taste that survived the Middle Passage. Luna: It's incredible — and heartbreaking — that something as basic as a bowl of beans can carry so much history. Lucas: Yeah. And that's the thing about history — it's not just battles and laws. It's the everyday stuff. Like, think about the Dolben Act again: that law was trying to regulate how many people you could pack into a ship — 1.5 adults per ton, or something like that. But it also regulated food. And the food regulations actually had a real effect — after the Dolben Act, mortality rates on British ships did drop, partially because of better provisions. But it took decades of pressure by abolitionists like Thomas Clarkson to enforce it. Luna: So the food is a window into the whole system — the economics, the politics, the resistance. Lucas: Absolutely. And it's also a reminder that the people who survived that journey brought their cultures with them in the most literal way — in their stomachs, in their seeds, in their recipes. And that legacy is still alive today. Luna: You know, Lucas, I was thinking — we've been doing these episodes now for a while, and I'm always amazed at how much there is to learn. And honestly, if this conversation today was worth a coffee to you, there's a way to support the show. It's at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Lucas: Yeah, that's true. And we really appreciate that — it's listener support that keeps this show ad-free and lets us dive into these specific topics. So thank you to anyone who does that. Luna: Alright, back to the food — so if the Dolben Act helped, what happened after the slave trade was abolished? Did those food traditions continue? Lucas: They did — in the Caribbean, in Brazil, in the American South. But also, interestingly, in Sierra Leone. When the British established the colony of Freetown for freed slaves, they brought with them the same crops — and the same cooking techniques. So you have a transatlantic food culture that was born in the holds of slave ships and then transplanted to new lands. Luna: So the food that was part of the trauma also became part of the survival and the rebuilding. Lucas: Exactly. And I think that's the bittersweet part of this story — that out of such cruelty, people found ways to feed themselves, to feed their families, and to pass down something that tasted like home. It's a testament to human resilience. Luna: Thanks for bringing this to light. I'll never look at a bowl of gumbo the same way again.