The expression "soul food" originated in the mid-1960s, when "soul" was a common word used to describe African-American culture. Soul food uses cooking techniques and ingredients from West African, Central African, Western European, and Indigenous cuisine of the Americas.

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.