Out the Mud: A Relationship Between the Food, the Plate, and Blackness
“Out of the mud” or “out the mud” is a phrase describing how to make something out of nothing or out of very little. It commends present perseverance from past struggles. Raheleh’s plate is quite literally "out the mud” from the earth, formed and molded into a tool of purpose. A tool of use. It was natural for me to think of food considering the plate in front of me. Then to think of food that relates to me, my culture, my Black body. Soul food; food that has historic ties to those kidnapped and sold into slavery. Scraps that were made into some of today's modern delicacies. Food that was made delicious with very little of nothing or very little of something. The plate the literal, the food the metaphorical. Out the mud.
