Feed Your Soul

The first soul food was the food of slaves: pokeweed, chitterlings, mustard greens and meat scraps such as hog’s jowl, pig’s feet and tripe. That’s a far cry from today’s hearty cuisine, which centers on macaroni and cheese, fried chicken and chocolate cake. Celebrate the salty, comforting food enjoyed by people of every color when Kinfolks Entertainment presents the second-annual Soul Food Festival at Parade Park (the Paseo Boulevard and Truman Road). Local and traveling food vendors will be on-site to sell single items and dinners, and entertainment will be provided by Sugafoot’s Ohio Players, Peabo Bryson, Evelyn “Champagne” King, Lakeside, Eldredge Jackson and Dru-Hill. “Since we aren’t doing Rhythm and Ribs, this will be the first festival-type event this year at the 18th and Vine District,” organizer Elbert Anderson explains. General admission tickets cost $28, and VIP tickets are $50 at the gate, which opens at 3 p.m. (The concert starts at 6 p.m.) See ilovesoulfood.com for details, including table reservations for the 21-and-older event.

Sat., Aug. 22, 2009