Students piled in the Student Center as the smell of soul food swept through the air on Wednesday, Feb. 10.

The Taste of Soul event, which was put together by the Black History Month Planning Committee, got going at 11 a.m.

The event was catered by Hambones, a local soul food restaurant, which provided fried chicken, yams and greens.

Guest speaker, Sonya Jackson, presented a power point illustrating the art of soul food and teaching students the importance of black history.

She said, “Food in a sense is an art form. It’s a reason to brag. You live on in the food you prepare which others try and imitate.”

Jackson then went on to discuss how it is believed the first president of the United states, George Washington, had been served soul food by his African American Head chef, Hercules.

Miya Walker, Director of public affairs said, “Through this event we wanted to create a place where people could connect over the most universal thing we knew which was food.

“As it relates to soul food, we wanted to provide some history to why and how African Americans have used the foods that are commonly used in our culture and share that with a larger campus.”

She added, “Black history means a celebrations of contribution, history, culture whether they’re from wherever in the world. Black history is apart of being African American.

Students were gifted with a new perspective on African American culture.

Dana Long, a sociology major said, “I gained a better appreciation of the culture and how the food is prepared.”

Students from various backgrounds were in attendance to the second black history event on the campus.

Miya Walker said excitedly, “I’m extremely proud of the turnout. We are very happy with the response of the campus and we’ve had diverse crowds at both events. The Black History Month Committee was very interested in making sure our events were inclusive to the whole campus.”