My first time eating solid food was my grandmothers collard greens when I was about 9 months old. My mama said I spent the weekend with my grandparents eating baby food and after having collards that weekend I was done with baby food. R.I.P Grandma and Grandpa.😢

As a half white/half Asian person raised in Hawaii in the 60s and 70s, I had never eaten collard greens until I moved to Philadelphia after high school and was taken under the wing of an amazing black lady who invited me to her home for a Thanksgiving supper. The delicious collard greens were served with ham, turkey, macaroni and cheese, and corn bread. She used ham hocks to season the greens that were so delicious that I think of her so often almost five decades later here in California when see and buy collards…. Part of the meal that was a gift of love and kindness. Thank you for bringing back these fine memories.

I am a basic, European white dude and I love collard greens. I am thankful for the creativity and skill that the black culture from all over the world has contributed to this dish and will forever be hoping for an invite to the cook out.

Well, I'm another "old white lady" who loves collards. I got my first taste in the Army, in Georgia, and later collards were "survival food" during some poor and hungry times. One year in college I would buy a paper grocery bag full of them, to last a long time - just for me! Now I cook collards on special days like Thanksgiving, to eat with turkey, cornbread, and sweet potato pie.

As an African American, I was born and raised in the Gullah Nation on a sea island in South Carolina. My family grew both colored greens and turnip greens. I later learned about mustard greens which are also eaten by many African American families. Cooking colored greens and mustard greens together is a recipe I got from a woman I met from Jackson, Mississippi. The two greens mixed together make a delicious and tasty dish. I watch several African content creators on KZfaq and that's where I found out that some Africans do eat lots of different types of greens in their culture, especially in West Africa. Our ancestors from West Africa brought their love of greens with them to the Americas and passed it down to us.

My father's side of my family is originally from a little tiny town called Kingstree South Carolina. They lived on a farm and have always grown their own foods and raised their own animals that they slaughtered and processed for meat themselves. They had chickens, hogs, beef, goats, etc... Whatever they didn't raise themselves, they had to go fishing, trapping, and hunting for. My great grandmother moved to Washington DC in the late 40s early 50 to find employment and move my grandmother to the city with her once shexwas well established in her new home. My great grandmother didn't stop growing her own vegetables despite living in what has always been considered an urban area. My great grandmother has always lived in places that had a front and back yard where she could start her garden during the summer months. She not only grew collard greens, she also grew her own curly kale greens, mustard greens, and turnip greens. We always had home grown tomatoes, bell peppers, hot chili peppers, turnips, rutabaga, green beans, yellow onions etc.. She would also plant flowering bushes in the yard like roses, and hydrangeas. We also had fresh mint bushes, basil, oregeno, thyme, and, green onions/chives in our yard. She would use natural pesticides like diatomaceous earth and hot pepper sprays, we composted our own fertilizers before it was the cool, hipster, conservationist thing to do. We.also used the waste water from cleaned and scaled fresh fish as a natural fertilizer as well. I miss being in the garden with her, and eating that fresh, all natural produce that aren't GMOs or altered by dyes, or poisonous pesticides that never wash completely off of your produce. Whatever we didn't use fresh from the garden was preserved and canned for use in the winter months when certain produce wasn't in season. We also grew berries and other fruits but it wasn't as easy to grow fruit in the soil in DC as it is to grow the vegetables. It's also more difficult to keep the urban wild life like raccons, pigeons, and squirrels out of your garden when there is sweet fruits for them to eat. They didn't bother the veggies too much at all, but we would be lucky if they left the fruits alone long enough for them to for them to ripen on the vine. Misty watercoloredmemories.... Hmmm😊.

I didn't realize how widespread historically collard greens were; I'd always thought they were mainly a Southern U.S. thing. Great educational video!

To me, Collard Greens mean Love.😊🥰

I had metabolic issues and collards were my remedy along with taking walks and eating low carb. I eat collards every day.

Thank you for this history of foods that fed our ancestors and continue to feed us our families

I love channels like this that teach culinary anthropology. Thank you for your work!

Some of the best times growing up was in the kitchen picking and cleaning greens from our garden with my momma..RIP Katie Mae❤

Great video. A black friend took me to Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem back in the early 90s, it was there that I discovered collard green. Loved it immediately because it tasted like and had similar texture to certain greens eaten by Koreans - I'm Korean - in stews and baanchan side dishes.

I’m mixed and thankfully I grew up in Detroit in the 70-80’s and was able to learn soul food from my neighbors because my white mom couldn’t cook anything except beans and cornbread (literally). Soul food is comfort food…good for the soul!! 🥰

Collard greens was rich in vitamin A and vitamin C which was good for the immune system!!

I am a 70 year old white girl:) I was raised on collard greens and ham hocks. Oh with vinegar!! I am from the Deep South but it was amazingly friendly between any races where I lived. We weren’t segregated as far as me as a young kid could notice. I played with friends, no colour involved. I love my collard green exposure and the dish to this day.

I just finished a bowl of collards left over from Christmas dinner I cooked. I was thinking to myself how absolutely delicious they were. After listening to your video I am filled with pride because of this another example of how we as a people overcame, survived and thrived. Thank you.

I freaking love greens n smoked turkey. mmmmmmmMMMMMM. I appreciate learning more about its history too 💕

I grew up in Texas, and collard greens and fried chicken were just standard southern food. Thanks for telling the history! ❤

Collard greens are a staple in East Africa. In Kenya they go by “kale”, but in the UK kale is used moreso in reference to curly kale (similar taste). Either way I love collard greens! I also find it interesting that we (Africans & AA) both pair it with a corn based side. We eat it with ugali made from maize (white corn) flour. I had collard greens in TX at a soul food spot in Dallas. Love that Americans add bacon and seasoning to it. That’s pretty interesting

I mix my Collards, Turnips, beet leaves, Mustard, swiss chard, and Dinosaur Kale... And mince the stems (which most toss, but holds the most nutrients... Steam my collards first, so they cook evenly with other Greens, saute with minced stems, quick broil smoked turkey legs with cyan & brown sugar, then prepare as usual in vegetable stock ( no need for salt)... For vegan style, I substitute the smoke Turkey leg with Tofurkey & add liquid smoke to Greens...❤❤❤❤❤❤ No additional salt required at all❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ Brown sugar curves the bitterness and apple cider vinegar provides the punch😂😂😂😂 And the prep time is way shorter... Tip... For brussel sprout bitterness, add an apple sliced or diced, and for red cabbage... Add molasses (black strap) & brown sugar , but just a small amount... For a quick green cook, slice your greens like coleslaw & sauteed (simple healthy week night cook)

Great reminder of real American history

Omg but I love greens - collards and turnips especially. I grew up Asian in a black neighborhood with a Mexican stepfather so had some interesting fusion meals that I still make today. 😂 Korean miso collards, turnip greens with smoked turkey necks and pinto beans. It’s all good. ❤️

My family eats mostly mustard greens. But, we do sometimes eat collard greens. Our greens are cooked with smoked neck bones, with cornbread on the side. It's one of my favorite meals.

I had my first collard greens with a Saturday night church supper chicken dinner. We white folks grew up without knowing anything about southern soul food. Spinach is the closest green we had to Collards. I learned to enjoy turnip greens and mustard greens. My uncle had a grocery store in a black neighborhood. We worked late on Saturday bight and he treated his employees to the local AME church supper. You really get to know and understand other people when you sit down and break bread in fellowship with them.

I do love greens, I make a 50/50 mix of turnips and mustard greens. I sautee them with onion and stewed smoked turkey legs. And yes, we have this with black eye peas on New years. Black folks had our African traditions and heritage stolen from us, so we often make our own traditions. That's why you see black culture changing so much because we're still in the process of creation.

Being cooking with Collard greens for years. Thanks for the history lesson

I love your honest and accurate history of collared greens…Thank you.

I work as a chef by trade, and I love greens. They taste delicious and they are very good for you in nutrients. I was introduced to them from my friends growing up here in NJ, and many of my friends are from the Deep South, and they brought the recipes from their loved ones with them from their childhood homes.

The first time I ate collard greens was when my roommate invited me to her family's house for thanks giving. Ever since than I'm hook to the soul food staple. I love it. ❤❤❤❤❤❤

I am white, and I LOVE collard greens in soups. They give a smoky, wonderful taste to so many bean soups. I always add a pound of collards to the vegetables in a good soup.

I like the vids because they’re not biased to one side.. just history and facts

Amen. Thank You for Appropriately Explaining the Significance of Collard Greens🖤

Though I am African American I don't care for collard greens but I do remember sitting in the kitchen or in the backyard picking and cleaning them with my grandmother. The kitchen was where all the grownups gathered to chew the fat lol or get the best gossip so I didn't mind sitting at the table picking the green and listening in. You bought back some good memories for me. Thank you.

You don't have to be black to love greens. I like mine with LOTS of smoked pork jowls or fatback to put a good shine on them. I even eat the stems. After chopping them finely, I add to the pot with the leaves. The homemade from-scratch cornbread (Jiffy NOT allowed) and some of that pot likker...yummy! I just planned my dinner menu. Fried chicken, rice and gravy, collard greens, cornbread, and sweet tea. Sweet potato pie for dessert. Anybody hungry? 😊

Thank you so much for sharing this video with us !

I love collards especially my moms collards in her long collard green pot with her fresh Turkey necks , and her fresh ham hocks

My mouth is watering. 😊

I’m just enjoying how classy and respectfully dressed my people were in these photos. I love us 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

Collards are quite possibly the most delicious leafy greens on earth. They are incredibly flexible, but they take especially well to being simmered with smoked pork products like ham or hocks. At our farmers market they sell these big, beautiful three-foot bunches of collards just out of the ground.

Not only Blacks love collard greens! Yum!

Nothing beats a big pot of Collard greens, with that good pot liquor for dipping cornbread in,lol. Don't forget the Ham hocks.

I liked collard greens when I was a kid, but when Mr. Tyrone Bully introduced me to the fruit of his momma's collard greens recipe 3 decades ago, my like transcended to love. I've been chasing that flavor ever since, but I haven't found it anywhere else. Bully's Restaurant is still going strong in Jackson, Mississippi. If you love yourself and your family, you should stop in and experience the love for yourself.

Thoroughly clean, then cut the stem to butterfly the greens, do a quick hot water 30 second par boil of each green, cool the greens, squeeze out the excess water, and use a wrap (kind of like a burrito shell) fill with whatever you like. Examples, sandwich filling, burrito filling, breakfast scramble fillings, etc. This is next level, delicious and healthy.

Great video! As an old white lady from NJ and Philadelphia I am crazy for collard greens. However, I didn't have a chance to eat them untill I worked as a nurse at a Philadelphia hospital where there were many African Americans. I can't believe I didn't know about this sooner. I tried to make them but didn't know how. Thank you for instructions I will definitely try again. BTW, My fathers family from a coal mining town in WV cooked some mean fried chicken. My mother had a recipie that I use today. Thank again for a great video. Oh, one more thing, I had fantistic greens at a Peruvian local resturant.

Lordy mercy, I am so hungry now after this description of the wonderful foods I love ❤️

SO wonderful for our history to be portrayed in such a positive light as it should! I am going to cook me a pot of greens this week! And, yes we do cook them in a healthier manner now. Still delicious cooked low and slow......Yummy! Mrs. C. Lee

Thank you for this wonderful history lesson. My family loves collards and kale. Keep up the good work.

I'm white and I grew up eating collards, mustard and turnip greens, fatback, and cornbread. Not just black people eat them. To us, this was just Southern cooking.

I absolutely love collard greens. I tried making them (I'm not Black, so I never grew up learning how to cook them), and they came out terrible, lol. My best friend's late Momma (a Black lady originally from Shreveport, LA) made the bestest, most bomb diggity collards ever. YUM!

Talking about Collard Green definitely made me want some 😊👍🏾👍🏾

A lot of people love collard greens. It’s just Black people cook it so well lol 😂. And they are delicious.

I have a cherished Aunt who grows collards greens all over her yard, both front and back. If she isn't growing them, we both get them from our local produce pantry. I hand mine over to her, she gives them back to me blanched, seasoned, with smoked meat, and freezer ready. I have a ton of collards in my freezer. ❤

Nothing better than fried chicken, collards and mac & cheese. You did a great job. Happy Holidays!

Couldn't help but laugh at the excitement in your voice when it got to that cornbread and that pot liq😂😂😂. I was like "yeah.. he a professional at this like myself" 😅

Collard greens and okra literally touch my soul, heart and tongue like nothing else. I visited Benin West Africa and our Chef made bitter greens! 😭 I wish I could have brought them with me. I ate them everyday I was there.

Thank you for this video! My mom's family is from Northern Georgia, and I grew up with all the delicious foods you mentioned! Also I love cornbread in a bowl with buttermilk! Miss you mama! Oh and I am also another old white lady! 😂

Thank you for sharing some of this history that goes further back than what I was aware of. My most direct experience was from Great Grandparents, who were married at 14/15 (or 13/14) and were alive until I was in late teens. That side of the family dates back to 1822, farmers from England in North Florida. By the time I was around much of that side of the family had migrated down to the SW Gulf Coast where I grew up and then they went further south and bought a large Mango Grove. Prior to that they had grown watermelons, sugar cane, other row crops. The family hunted too so, collard greens (with ham hocks) okra, black eyed-peas, cornbread, venison, etc. all on the menu. Not sure what connections they may have had with the black community in early 1800's (never heard of any slave relations) but they shared that N. Florida Georgia area as farmers so it's cool how the common foods weave through the history......among the dark parts of the era. Interestingly enough, one of the other side of the family migrated down from Tenn (both Irish and Sicilian) and 5 generations in Florida and although they had Italian Restaurant still grew at home and could make great collards too. I design farms and other outdoor land projects & structures so enjoy good collards to this day! Thanks again for sharing this history about collars and good soul food.

Thanks for this because we need hold to our traditions. It seems it been a big effort to put them down because they empower us

Awesome. One of my earliest memories isof my Nana teaching me to clean and cook collard greens.

The one side dish that’s on the menu every Sunday in the south whether it’s at mom and pop restaurant, country buffet, or somebody house. You will find it somewhere. Trust me!😂

One has to know how to cook them and season them and also turnips,mustards,and cabbage. Everybody can not cook them!!

It ain't just black folks who love collard greens! I love me some collard greens!

I adore greens my Mama was raised in NC so I was raised on collards and turnip greens

This is so beautiful and educational, great history of our past and present life style. 😊

I love collards. The "frost" just hit, and my friend is getting me some collards. I love turnips, mustard, kale, and swiss chard greens. Lastly, we have a rich history in America, and we should embrace it. We should also stop being swayed by every doctrine that comes our way.

Keep these coming. Rich history and best food

I never liked collard greens but moms made them every year on New Year’s Day. She was so happy to make it for me and my siblings and we ate it out of respect to her.

I'm so glad you are doing this work, Countryboi Mike

I grew up during the 1960's in rural Alabama. My family is white but we ate what is referred to as "soul food". We grew all our vegetables and always had collards in the garden. I still love them. Pot likker over cornbread can't be beat.

My dear friend Isaiah Collins.. God rest his soul.. he was from Mississippi and he thought me how to make them.. he was truly an amazing soul. Oh.. and a butter cake to die for..

Thank you African America for this beautiful food. Thank you for sharing it with the rest of us. It's a comfort food for my soul.

Great video! Thank you for sharing this! I love collard greens, and I believe that good food is good food, regardless of it's cultural or ethnic origin. But it's always good to also know the "back story", and this is so much richer than I had known or thought before. Again, thank you for sharing!!

My mother was born deep in the bayou in the 1930s. The first time she heard of collard greens was when she moved to NY. Growing up, they ate mustard and turnip greens. There are a lot of regional forms of black American cooking, not just one thing.

Collard Greens are my favorite! Viva Collard Green! Amen-Ra-Ankh-Ase!

Wow, I didn't know we LOVE them...Thanks for the education..

Collard Greens are so healthy and delicious! One can prepare them easily in healthy ways. I like to simmer mine in vegetarian Pho broth with other vegetables.

If people would give it a shot and get over that initial smell when they start cooking, they’d find they love em too.

I'm so glad that you posted this story. I never knew the story behind these. It was a good story. I love collard greens. I try make them all the time.

Our grand/ parents grew collard greens in their garden & cooked large pots of them & served them with cornbread to feed large families . The pot liquor was mixed with cornbread & fed to children as one of their first meal when being weaned from milk . "That's true surviving right there !"

I'm from a poor white family in Eastern Virginia. We ate the very same food the black family down the road does. I grew up eating collard greens mixed with turnips and greens.fat back and salt pork, My mother always had a cup of bacon grease on the back of the stove. My point is we all have blood pressure and or diabetes. Our eating habits are killing us. There's nothing romantic about early death. I asked my adult son if he could Find a tub of lard. He said I must finally be losing it, I told him that the grocery store in the black area still sells it.

Love me some collards 👶 😊

Thank You so much for this Awesome Black History Information. 😊

Hey, I'm white and love collards! I cook them with salt pork, bacon grease, onions and ham bits! Yummy! I even wrote a song back in 1983 and it became the theme song for the Ayden Collard Festival in NC.

I am one of the only black people (that I know of) who does not like collard greens. I grow them in my garden every year for my mom. I also feed them to my chickens, turkeys, and pigs. They love them. I prefer to grow them in the GA fall and winter. Fewer bugs to fight with. Plus my mom says they are tougher in the summer heat and more tender during the colder months. “Clean you out” lol!!!! 💛💛💛💛

Collard Greens are a comfort food. Especially for those who were raised on them. Collard Greens were a plant that grew wild at one time, and were one of the plants poor families could forage and cook and make a good hearty soup/vegetable, for a much needed meal. We ate them with fried potatoes and cornbread, and in the summertime, sliced tomatoes on the side, Mmm!!! They are also cooked together with Turnip Greens and the whole Turnips all you in one pot. Bacon, or Hamhocks are really good cooked in them also!! I assure you, there isn't a better meal around anywhere!! ANOTHER PLANT IS POKE SALAD. THEY ARE ALSO ANOTHER WILD PLANT THAT GREW WILD AND I REMEMBER MOTHER TELLING ME HOW SHE AND HER SIBLINGS WOULD GO OUT EVERYDAY A PICK THEM FOR SUPPER. LOL, I USE TO CALL HER POKE SALAD ANNIE!! SHE WOULD COOK THEM UP WITH SCRAMBLED EGGS IN THEM! THEY GREW WILD ON THEIR FARM THERE IN MAUMELLE ARKANSAS. LAYER THEY MOVED TO CONWAY ARKANSAS.

I have never heard about Collard greens until i came to the States. In Jamaica we have Callaloo so I do d collard greens similarly with corned pork or cod fish.

Love stories like this! Thank you for sharing.

I’m white guy and for generations my family plants and eats collards, turnip, mustard, cabbage. I plant a big pea patch( purple hulls) ever year and we can them in jars. Most white and black folks where I grew up eat the same food, but I don’t eat chitlins. I eat so many beans and peas in my life that I swore I would never eat them again, but I cooked a pot yesterday.

Got a news flash for you white people also love collard greens I like a little vinegar on mine

Im a Pacific Islander and am addicted to collard greens especially with smoked ham hocks or smoked turkey tails. So much that I eat it 3 times a week. Soooo good

I’ve eaten collards all my life, loved the history here and variations from my grandmas recipe. Thank you, from a 50s white science teacher in Texas. Now 5:30AM this Sat morning I’m up planning to make soul food today- collards with pork, sweet potatoes and corn bread! Feb is black history month- an addition to celebration

Some of you are missing the point of this video and are so ready to say, "I'm not black, and I grew up eating collard greens." He not one time said the only people who can like or eat collard greens are black. He even said the views on collard greens have evolved. He is simply explaining the connection between the food and OUR history. Sheesh!

Preping some now w/ sweet potatoes ❤ 2 of my favorite foods ❤❤

I didn't grow up with this dish,but once it was prepared for me the right way. Things changed

Black people (and white people) love collard greens because they are smart folks. Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll from GA.

Collard greens are delicious. It's been awhile. Now that is sad. Although I've been eating all day. But now I'm hungry again. 😂 I'm blaming you for my torture. 😊😢

Just awesome! White or Black, southerners have loved greens for centuries. The narrator made the point that collards over-winter better than the other greens. The old joke was that if you lived in North Carolina, you had to have collards in your garden in the winter and black-eyed peas in the summer or you wouldn't go to heaven when you died.....

First encountered collard greens when I moved from Jamaica to Georgia to attend University….loved it…..was surprised to find that the stalk attached to turnips were also cooked n eaten..we didn’t do that in Jamaica…grew to love turnip greens..fell in love with black-eyed peas n so many other Black American culinary dishes….even with the ingredients we shared, the difference in preparation was a new delight….red beans n rice is called stewed peas with rice in Jamaica…we add ‘spinners’ to our preparation…spinners r tiny dumpling made from flour n rolled btwn the palms of the hands to achieve an elongated shape…tossed into the almost cooked red beans to aid in the thickrning of the gravy….ate grits for the first time n to this day, love it

Oh, yes, and black-eyed peas!!! Love them!! Yum I'm hungry.