Why You Should Drink Strawberry Soda On Juneteenth
NEWS
By ANDREW AMELINCKX
Juneteenth, now a national holiday, initially began in 1865 as a local celebration and day of remembrance by the Black community, marking the end of slavery.
Food plays a central role in Juneteenth celebrations with red being the dominant color, and strawberry soda has a special significance on this day for many celebrants.
The significance of strawberry soda and other red-hued foods and beverages has traditionally been associated with the blood shed by enslaved people.
Journalist James E. Causey recalled his grandfather telling him that enslaved people would sometimes "sneak strawberries" from the fields where they were forced to work.
"Once the enslaved were freed, they celebrated by drinking red drinks and eating red foods such as strawberries," Causey wrote in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Per food historian Michael Twitty, for the enslaved Yoruba and Kongo people from West Africa who were brought to Texas by their captors in the 1800s, red had another significance.
"For both of these cultures the color red is the embodiment of spiritual power and transformation," Twitty wrote on his website Afroculinaria.
