Push Up from the Table.

A regional smorgasbord of southern tradition and recipes handed down by generations, African-Americans across the nation still enjoy what others may refer to as "country cooking." It's not the same in all cases. And as bad as soul food supposedly is, I do not remember a sick or unhealthy day in my entire childhood. I was raised on it.

Examples of these long-standing cultural traditions may (or may not) make your mouth water, so hold on to your chair, loosen your belt buckle, and breathe deep. Grandma, what's for supper?:

Pickled (brine-soaked) pig feet and pig ears; boiled or fried chitterlings (hog intestines); sweetmeats (animal brains); souse (congealed hog renderings); cracklin' bread (cornbread with crunchy fried pork baked in); hog maw (pig jowls); collard greens cooked in smoked turkey parts, streak 'o' lean, or salt pork; "hoppin' john" (black eyed peas with rice); red rice (rice and tomatoes); grits and gravy; fried catfish; homemade butter crunchy biscuits; barbecued pork ribs; fried pork chops; neckbones; oxtails; candied yams; cheese, rice and broccoli casserole; rutabagas cooked in bacon drippings; smothered steak; macaroni and cheese; egg custard; bread pudding; sweet potato pie; peach cobbler; pound cake; blackberry cobbler; Red Velvet cake; banana pudding; fried chicken; baked hen and cornbread dressing; okra, corn and tomatoes; and fried corn and fried okra, as well as fried green tomatoes, and hundreds of other variations of recipes using different meats, seasonal fruits and vegetables.

Soul food, as we know it, actually came from a combination of foods grown and raised in America coupled with ancient African and Native American preparation and cooking methods.

Black people ate plenty of scrap leftovers from the tables of plantation owners in the south. Slaves would eat the leftovers and throw-away parts of meats, pieces that the master and his family and guests did not care for. Gut, skin, feet, necks, and "cock's comb" (yes, that hard red thing hanging off a rooster's neck). Fried. With brown gravy no less. My grandfather ate plenty of them and lived be 98. Slaves had to find ways to improvise on the trashed out food, so they found ways to dress it up and make it taste at least relatively good. Over time, these "leftovers" became soul food delicacies.

Cooking in large community pots and digging pits for underground and overnight roasting of pigs are still common ways of cooking for larger crowds in the Deep South, especially at family reunions. Canning and preserving fruits and vegetables for long hard winters when little was available made pickled, smoked and jarred foods a staple. Food preparation and service was an expression of love.

Most of us remember the movie "Soul Food" and those Sunday after-church dinners at Big Mama's house. Some of us actually lived it. The scenes portrayed the many hands and cooking styles, "food sensuality," that went into preparing each meal. The height of a long work week in African-American communities were the gatherings around someone's dinner table or standing around someone's grill.

" Soul food," contrary to popular opinion, is not particularly unhealthy.

The unhealthy is the methods of preparation and cooking, including the potential for "overcooking" vegetables to a limp dissolution, which removes needed nutrients; adding additives such as high cholesterol cooking oils and lard, butter, plenty of salt, breadings, coatings and "thickening" made from flour and sometimes cornstarch; adding cheeses, fatty and salted meats for seasonings, and large amounts of sugar and whole eggs with yolk.

For healthier soul food indulgence, you can substitute olive or pure corn oil for hydrogenated fats; use plain yogurt or cottage cheese in place of sour cream; use egg whites instead of whole eggs and cut way down on the use of salt by subbing salt substitutes, sea salt or salt-free seasonings, like Mrs. Dash. You can also use herb spices to your heart's health and content, rather than meat fats, for seasoning vegetables. Eat the sweet potato without the candy syrup or butter and use cholesterol-cutting toppings like Smart Balance and plain yogurt on baked potatoes instead of butter and sour cream. It's not the potato, it's what you put on it.

Seasonings like mustard and fresh herbs can be used without much fear of hypertensive or diabetic retribution. Whole grains and rice increase dietary fiber and all of the delicious vegetables on a soul food plate don't need meat renderings for seasoning. But when it comes to satisfying that sweet tooth when fruit just won't do?

Try Angel Food Cake instead of that buttery half-dozen-whole-egg-gobbling pound cake or that rich adulterous hummingbird, Coca-Cola, or red velvet.