Three years ago, husband-and-wife team Marrekus and Krysten Wilkes launched “A Couple That Cooks,” a culinary platform rooted in Southern soul food and barbecue traditions. The duo are the creators behind Cooks with Soul, where they share recipes, food stories and photography that honor Black culinary history while inviting home cooks to add their own personal touch.
Marrekus, a Memphis native and retired U.S. Airman, develops the recipes. Krysten, a writer and food photographer, documents and tells the stories behind them. Together, they blend lived experience with historical context, framing soul food as both nourishment and narrative.
As Black History Month invites reflection, the Wilkeses encourage families to embrace the full scope of their history — “the good, the bad and the ugly,” as they describe it — as a testament to resilience.
“Both of us grew up with a parent who worked in the food industry as cooks and caterers,” they write. “However, our connection, experiences, relationships and cultural ties with food have roots that reach much further back in time.”
They point to the Great Migration as a defining period in shaping modern Black food ways. Beginning in the early 20th century, millions of Black Americans left the South to escape racial violence and segregation, resettling in cities such as Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. The movement, championed in part by Chicago Defender publisher Robert S. Abbott, reshaped not only demographics but also American cuisine.
During that era, Krysten’s ancestors operated a boarding house that provided Black travelers with meals and lodging as they journeyed north. Homemade dishes were often packed for the road — sustenance that carried both physical and emotional comfort.
Marrekus’ culinary foundation was laid in the South. Raised in Memphis, he spent summers in Mississippi tending chickens and hogs and harvesting vegetables in his grandfather’s garden.
“Those hot days picking butter beans, purple hull peas and collard greens shaped not only his connection to the land but also his approach to food,” the couple explains. “It’s where the journey from farm to table began for him — a concept rooted in Black American culture long before it became a trendy buzzword.”
These early experiences, they say, shaped their understanding of the importance of family meals and the cultural weight carried by traditional dishes.
For Marrekus, soul food is not simply a list of recipes.
“Soul food is more than just a menu,” he says. “It’s a sense of familiarity that we share with our ancestors.”
He describes it as culinary ingenuity — transforming once-overlooked ingredients such as oxtails into rich, celebrated dishes, and preserving cooking techniques and spice blends with roots in Africa, Europe and Native America.
“In our kitchen, soul food is just as much fried chicken as it is collard greens and black-eyed peas,” he says. “It’s also macaroni and cheese, cornbread and red beans and rice. Each recipe tells a story — of survival, of joy and of a rich cultural heritage.”
Among their most popular dishes is Southern baked macaroni and cheese, a decadent blend of cheddar, Monterey Jack and mozzarella that skips the roux in favor of a creamy, layered texture. Their Louisiana-style red beans and rice combines kidney beans, smoked ham hock and andouille sausage with the Creole “holy trinity” of onion, celery and bell pepper.
Their slow-simmered collard greens, seasoned with smoked ham hocks and red pepper flakes, evoke the comfort of a Sunday dinner table. A brined Southern fried chicken recipe delivers a crisp, golden crust without the traditional buttermilk soak, while their cornbread balances buttermilk tang with a tender crumb.
Other staples include black-eyed peas with smoked neck bones, fried catfish coated in seasoned cornmeal, smothered oxtails in brown gravy, Southern cabbage cooked in a smoky broth, and sweet potato pie scented with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Through each recipe, the Wilkeses aim to connect readers to the deeper meaning behind the food.
“As we continue through Black History Month,” Marrekus says, “let’s not just cook; let’s create, celebrate and remember.”
Cooks with Soul shares recipes and food stories online, where the couple continues to document the enduring legacy of Southern soul food — one dish at a time.