Soul food originated in the home cooking of the rural Southern United States or the "Deep South" and has its origins in slavery, using locally gathered or raised foods and other inexpensive ingredients.

Soul food is a type of cooking that started in African American communities in the Southern U.S. It has tasty and filling dishes influenced by African, European, and Native American cooking. Soul food often uses ingredients like collard greens, okra, cornmeal, and meats like pork and chicken.

The expression "soul food" originated in the mid-1960s, when "soul" was a common word used to describe African-American culture. At its core, soul food is down-home cooking that's been passed down through many generations, with its roots in the rural South.

Though the usage isn't the same, the term soul food indeed calls back to the phrase's original sense of “spiritual sustenance” created not only by the ways that food brings people together, but also in the shared history, experience, and identity borne of the food.