A Hungry Society Presents: Boundless Horizon
What does it mean to be African American — and how does that show up in our food?
At the end of 2019, I heard about an upcoming exhibit at the Museum of Food and Drink called African/American: Making the Nation’s Table. As a Black food writer, I was so excited to hear this was happening and I was even more excited when I got the chance to write a story about the exhibit for a magazine and check out some of the artifacts before the exhibit opened.
In the weeks and months that followed, I thought about the themes of the exhibit, the stories that are told about Black food and my work as a food writer. I wanted to explore the topics more deeply, to talk to other Black culinarians about these ideas and how they think about their own work, adding nuance and depth to the discussion of Black food in this country. I thought it should be a podcast, where you hear me talking to some of the most brilliant minds in food, hashing out some of the complications that come with documenting and giving credit to the enslaved Africans who laid the groundwork for a lot of American cuisine.
So, I got to work and reached out to people I thought should be a part of the show. People like Alexander Smalls, Pierre Thiam, Therese Nelson, Klancy Miller and more talked with me about their work, their stories and why food is more than what’s on our plates, it’s a currency that Black folks have used to uplift and nourish one another. In talking to them I saw my own story more fully too, understanding the similarities and uniqueness between the foods I grew up eating and other Black culinarians in other parts of the country.
On March 26th I’ll be sharing the first episode of “A Hungry Society presents…Boundless Horizon” with the world. The shows cover a range of topics from the legacy of black food in this country, what it means to be both African and American, how the movement of African-Americans during the great migration helped create regional differences in black cooking and the importance of fully developed human stories about our ancestors. I also share a bit more about my personal story and how I think about documenting this present moment in food.
You can subscribe to “A Hungry Society presents…Boundless Horizon” on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify and keep an eye on social media for behind the scenes peeks at the show and more info.