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- Nyam : (re)claiming african culinary heritage to create an african-american culinary identity and (re)stor(y)ing african diaspora food memoriesPublication . Akinola, Akinyemi Abimbola; Gonçalves, Diana Isabel AdrianoFood is one of the many mechanisms by which identity is created (Wallach 2019, 5). For African Americans food is fraught with tension as it connects with a history of pain and suffering from previous and current generations (Gray et al. 2022, 8). From the Transatlantic Slave Trade to present day, the relationship that African Americans have with food is a contentious one; forced relocation, chattel slavery, and inequalities intermingle to build a compounded complexity by which the root of a culinary history is often hard to ascertain and untangle. In America, food is also connected to power, race and class (Counihan and Van Esterik 2013, 112). As food is a source of identity, certain ingredients and dishes signify that identity and those within the group and also for those outside of the group (Albala 2015, 823). Inside and outside of the African American community, soul food is attached to unique Black culinary tradition that is evident through dishes and foods that are synonymous with Southern heritage (Wallach 2019, 162). For African Americans, foodways serve as a connection to America and their nationhood i.e. their second-class status, but foodways also serve to connect to other Americans of African descent (Wallach 2019, 5). Many African Americans have used food as a way to exhibit their racial and national identities (Wallach 2019, 5, 13). Therefore, this work explores the themes of African American identity, African Diaspora and their food cultures, and memory. The purpose of the work is to investigate how African culinary heritage, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, chattel slavery, the Civil Rights movement and other historical events helped to create the invention of soul food a distinct AfricanAmerican culinary genre. The research question for the dissertation is: how have African Americans reclaimed African culinary heritage to create soul food, an African– American culinary identity? Sub research questions are: is there a relationship between soul food and African American identity? Which emotions and values do African Diaspora food cultures symbolize? And how are the African Diaspora, African Diaspora foods and memory connected? The methodology employed to answer the research questions are theoretical research and conceptual approach of interviews and food memories from people of the African Diaspora.