Soul food's history, challenges and future in natural CPG

As natural and organic packaged foods expand to include global flavors, entrepreneurs should keep an eye on one American tradition: soul food.

Black consumers are looking for foods that are culturally relevant, convenient and a good value. At the same time, they want that food to help them develop healthy eating habits and experience new foods, according to Nourishing equity: Meeting Black consumers’ needs in food, a 2022 report from the McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility.

Companies that offer the foods Black consumers want could take a share of a $340 million opportunity between 2022 and 2030, according to the same report.

Adrian Miller, The Soul Food Scholar and James Beard Award-winning author, speaks at Newtopia Now in Denver, Colorado. Credit: Victoria A.F. Camron

This Newtopia Now session, From Legacy to Leadership: Black Culinary History & the Future of CPG, opens with Adrian Miller, The Soul Food Scholar and James Beard Award-winning author. Miller presents a history of soul—the words, the music and the food—and a look at where soul food is going as consumers seek more nutritious meals with the flavors they grew up with.

Then Miller moderates a panel on the state of Black cuisine with three experts:

Related:‘The Black Nutritionist’ examines nutritional advice in a multi-cultural world

Watch the video of “From Legacy to Leadership: Black Culinary History & the Future of CPG,” recorded at New Hope Network’s Newtopia Now trade show on Aug. 27, 2024, in Denver, Colorado. The next Newtopia Now is scheduled for Aug. 20-22, 2025, also in Denver.