As thousands of African Americans left the Mississippi Delta during the Great Migration, their diet changed and adapted to city life. They left the land hoping that new employment would bring new prosperity. Pauline Holmes, a native of Mound Bayou, Mississippi stated that "there was always more nutrition on the farms. They didn't know why they were eating vegetables, they just did it." Women spent most of their waking hours working outside the home, in addition to the traditional household chores. The daily diet of many African American families changed because they did not have time to prepare meals, or did not have the kitchen space as they had in the South. But historian James Grossman asserted that the new settlers did not leave "their cultural baggage at the train station." Migrants continued to sing, eat and dress as they had 'back home." Many migrants sought out restaurants in the South Side such as H&A, Gladys or Daley's which served traditional soul food.

Aaron Douglas, Aspiration, 1936