Poke salad (salat, salet, sallet) has been a staple of Southern cuisine for decades. The leaves are cooked in several changes of water and are a specialty green below the Mason-Dixon line where some supermarkets have carried canned poke salet (such as Allen's Organic Poke Salet Greens). It is always cooked and rinsed at least two to three times to remove the harmful components. All parts of the plant are toxic unless properly prepared and the roots are especially toxic. Many authorities advise against eating pokeweed even after three rinsings since traces of the toxin may still remain. It should never be eaten uncooked.

The plant was featured in an early '70s song by Elvis Presley titled "Poke Salad Annie."

Some pokeweeds are grown as ornamental plants, mainly for their attractive berries. Pokeweed berries yield a red ink or dye but should be handled with extreme caution. The berries are also eaten by some birds such as the Cedar Waxwing.