I’m thrilled to announce that my upcoming book, FOR THE CULTURE: PHENOMENAL BLACK WOMEN & FEMMES IN FOOD, is available for pre-order now (link in bio) and will be in stores September 19, 2023! And this is the beautiful cover!
FOR THE CULTURE features 66 interviews (with Dr. Jessica B. Harris, Sophia Roe, Kia Damon, Yewande Komolafe, and many more) and includes 48 recipes by the interviewees and five personal essays by me about our culinary matriarchs, Edna Lewis, Leah Chase, B. Smith, Lena Richard, and Vertamae Smart Grosvenor. As my publisher, Harper Collins, says, “These collective profiles are a one-of-a-kind oral history of a movement, captured in real time, and indispensable for anyone passionate about food.”
Designed by George McCalman and Sarah Madden, with photography by Kelly Marshall and illustrations by Sarah Madden, For the Culture is also a love letter to Black women and femmes in food and wine and an anthology of wisdom that I wish I could have had when I was starting my culinary journey as a 21-year-old.
In order for this book to make an impact, I need your help.
Please preorder For the Culture and encourage your friends to do the same. Preorders are extremely important to authors because they show the publisher that there is interest in the book/author/subject. Strong preorders also give the book a chance to land on a bestseller list. Most importantly, strong preorders for a book centering Black women and femmes prove to the publisher that readers are interested in Black women and femmes—this encourages the publisher to better support these kinds of books and hopefully opens up more support and publishing deals for Black women/femme writers.
Another helpful way to boost this book is to order it from your favorite local bookstore and to ask your local public library to order the book so that readers can check it out. Of course, I would also be grateful for any social media posts encouraging people to preorder For the Culture. Thank you for reading this! Art director: @mccalmanco Designers: @mccalmanco & @hello.sola Illustration: @hello.sola Published by @harvestbooks
I'm so excited that For the Culture is in @voguemagazine as a highly anticipated cookbook! Grateful to be included in this wonderful roundup by @vanessatakesphotos . I highly suggest reading the piece and pre-ordering For the Culture--out September 19! Link in my stories.
Made a pound cake in honor of Mom. She loved pound cake. Recipe testing for this one feels extra special. Excited to share this with friends at my next picnic!
Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms. I celebrate my Mom for being an amazing human and phenomenal mother. I miss my Mom and think of her everyday and am sending love to anyone who finds today difficult for any reason. You’re not alone.
Today I made pickles! I took a break from writing to attend @bembrooklyn ‘s Edna Lewis Festival for a special workshop led by Tonya Hopkins @thefoodgriot on pickling. Tonya talked about the history of pickling and also reflected on Chef Edna Lewis’s pickling recipes in The Taste of Country Cooking, which has reached its 50th anniversary year! As Tonya said, how many cookbooks can you say that about? What a joy it was to make pickles in community at @bembrooklyn and celebrate the work of Edna Lewis and the gifts and cultural legacy of Black people throughout the diaspora! A perfect Saturday afternoon. The bonus is that we were all gifted herbs and seeds and mustard greens from the garden at BEM books & more.
I had the best time @blackwomeninfood last week and felt completely affirmed and inspired and lovingly poured into and celebrated by everyone I interacted with and listened to at the summit. I had the honor of being on the “Telling Our Stories” panel and was grateful to share the stage with @edibleactivist and @cuisinenoir_ in a conversation thoughtfully led by @theanelamalik . What a joy it was. I had to get back to New York early to continue cookbook writing but the energy from the @blackwomeninfood summit has propelled me all week—especially in light of the gutting of the Voting Rights Act—something I am still processing. Giving thanks for the organizers of @blackwomeninfood and everyone who asked such thoughtful questions at the panel.
I’m extremely grateful and honored to be an inaugural cohort member of the @riseresidency ! It’s a delight to share this honor with @thizzg and @jenfullymade —two tremendously talented chefs whose projects I’m excited to witness.
When I read about @riseresidency I was instantly curious because I had never seen a residency program focused on the culinary arts and embracing chefs and writers.
I’m excited to grow my vision for the Picnic Project and grateful for the mentoring aspect that the Rise provides. One of the many reasons why I applied for the program was for mentoring!
A deep bow of gratitude to @marcuscooks for his leadership in creating this residency, to @thejennabond and @abankhead for their thoughtful work in this program and to everyone involved at @riseresidency and @dennistonhill for making this happen. I’m looking forward to all that we build together!
Posting this on main as a reminder to myself that these trees I love in my local park are particularly beautiful right now. I love trees!!! Consider this a spring appreciation post. I’m so grateful we get to look at all this beauty! Spring is real! (The photos are without filters)
I promised myself that once spring came, after the coldest winter I can remember (metaphorically and for real), I would pay extra attention to spring and be doubly grateful for warmth and flowers and renewal. On a practical note-I got a tasty soft serve for a dollar today! At Mixue near 30th and Broadway. 10/10 recommend! If you had a hard winter I hope your spring is feeling much better.
Wrote about my Dad’s stint in Lebanon, his love of Arab coffee, my recent recipe testing, and the ongoing heartbreak of watching bombs drop on people now and for the past two years. Link in stories.
