The Interesting History of Okra, its African Roots, and How it Made its Way to America

I want to take a moment to look at the influence of black people in the creation of American cuisine. In this particular moment I want to briefly discuss the history of okra. I understand that there are things going on right now in the world much more important than this, but I feel like for many people cooking is a mental escape like it is for me. So I wanted to take a few moments to talk about a vegetable that has a very interesting history.

The exact details of where okra was first cultivated are not exactly clear, but it is believed that it was first grown by Ethiopians and first to “discovered” in the 12th century being cultivated by the Egyptians. I put discovered in parentheses because something isn’t discovered when a European comes across it. It is discovered when it is first grown, so the Ethiopians.

Okra made its way to the America by way of enslaved Africans. I have heard stories of how mothers would braid okra seeds into their and their daughters hair so that no matter where they ended up they would have something that they knew how grow for themselves and eat. I don’t know how accurate this is, and it’s hard to find any documentation of it but I choose to believe it could be true. When okra was brought to America by Angola slaves it was called “ngombo”. This in time became “gumbo” referring to the vegetable, and then gumbo the dish we all know today.

I am no expert in any of this, and I am actively tying to learn more. So please if I say something wrong please let me know, and point me in the direction of good resources to learn.

I originally discussed this in a Twitter thread. It made me very happy to see so many people learning and sharing their own stories of okra around that tweet thread. Food is truly a connector and a place where people have found peace and happiness. There have been many people cooking okra over the lats couple week! Let us all spirituality share dinner together, and allow food to connect us.

For me there is one meal that above all else makes me feel love and positive feelings more than anything else, my grandmother’s smothered okra recipe. The taste and smell immediately bring me back to visiting them both here in Louisiana as we grew up in Alabama.  It’s something that I can only describe as the true way that food is truly love made edible.

As always thank you for taking a few moments out of your day to read my blog.  I hope that you my thoughts on Netflix’s food documentaries has intrigued you, and I hope that enjoy them as much as I do.

God bless,

Ben

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