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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979465\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979465\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-1.jpeg\" alt=\"Illustration: two men devour fried chicken and waffles inside a restaurant.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-1.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-1-160x160.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-1-768x768.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-1-1536x1536.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The fried chicken at Keith’s Chicken N Waffles is extraordinarily crunchy and flavorful. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a sparse, vaguely industrial stretch of Daly City, tucked among a cluster of auto body shops, a tiny storefront sells some of the best fried chicken in the Bay Area — dollar for dollar, almost certainly the best you can get your hands on at 10 o’clock on a Wednesday night, which is when we were inducted into the cult of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/keithschickennwaffles/?hl=en\">Keith’s Chicken N Waffles\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keith’s came onto our radar a few months ago, when it \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DEk_2lDzRty/?hl=en\">extended its hours\u003c/a> to midnight four nights a week. But for the longest time afterward, we couldn’t find any online evidence of anyone ever actually eating there late at night: No one picked up the phone the dozen or so times I called, and the one time we showed up, hungry, on a Friday night, the place was closed. No sign on the door or anything.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So we were thrilled to confirm firsthand that you \u003ci>can\u003c/i> score a plate of top-notch chicken and waffles in Daly City until midnight — or at least 11:30 p.m., when the shop puts in its last call for orders. (The hours are a little wonky, though, so if you’re trekking from the other side of the Bay, you should double-check the \u003ca href=\"https://keithschickennwaffles.com/menu\">restaurant website\u003c/a> to make sure they are in fact open and accepting orders before heading out.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shop itself looks like your standard corner soul food joint — a bit cramped and well-worn, with black and white checkerboard-tile flooring and a jaunty, muscle-bound cartoon rooster painted on the facade. A few framed paintings of Bob Marley and Tupac hang on the walls, and a hand-written sign next to the counter reads: “Don’t stare. After you order please sit your ass down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979468\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979468\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-2.jpeg\" alt=\"Exterior of a chicken and waffles restaurant lit up at night.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-2.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-2-160x160.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-2-768x768.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-2-1536x1536.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keith’s is now open late — until midnight — Wednesday through Saturday. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You will have to wait a little while, at least. One of the restaurant’s hallmarks is that the cooks fry every batch of chicken to order; there are no heat lamps to speak of. The chicken comes out burn-your-tongue hot, with a thin, well-bronzed, shatteringly crisp sheath. This was the crunchiest fried chicken I’ve eaten in recent memory, and some of the most flavorful too. I don’t know what they put in their seasoning mix, but every piece is seasoned extraordinarily well down to the last nook, cranny and crevice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the shop’s quirks is that the chicken pieces come in a range of sizes — we received a big, ample thigh, a slightly smaller one, and a rather diminutive drumstick. It didn’t bother us. If anything, the nonuniformity underscored Keith’s Chicken N Waffles’ status as a homegrown, made-from-scratch operation, not some cookie-cutter McNugget factory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you happen to be more of a chicken tender connoisseur, Keith’s still has you covered. The tenders here are plump, moist and uncommonly large — and, again, seasoned so aggressively well that you can enjoy them straight-up. (Though I did like the orange-gold, Carolina-style, honey-based barbecue sauce that the shop provided.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One remarkable thing about Keith’s is how reasonable the prices are. Combo meals — all named after rappers (the DMX, the Rick Ross and so on) — start at around $12 and come with waffles, sides, soda, the whole nine yards, and there’s always a bargain-priced daily special too (say, three wings and a waffle for $10). The upshot is you wind up paying cheaper-than-fast-food prices — I’m looking at you, Popeyes and Raising Cane’s — for fresher, more generous portions of chicken.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the soul food side dishes (soupy, well-spiced collard greens, proper Southern-style mac and cheese, and more) were all better than solid, and we decided to save the saucy party wings and promising-looking fried chicken sandwich for our next visit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13978355,arts_13956683,arts_13969092']Of course at Keith’s Chicken N Waffles, the chicken is only half the story. In much of the Bay Area, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/food/1337630/chicken\">fried chicken and waffles\u003c/a> is strictly a brunch-time treat, so it’s a rare pleasure to be able to score a good waffle late at night. And the waffles at Keith’s are very good, and available in a variety of flavors and sizes. We liked the standard Belgian waffle best: light, yeasty and super-buttery, with crisp edges, topped with a huge dollop of even more soft butter. It’s tasty enough that you don’t even really need to add syrup — though it’s hard to resist when the restaurant offers serve-yourself syrup, dispensed out of a gigantic coffee urn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyone with a sweet tooth should also try the mini waffle trio, which comes with a pint-sized version of the standard waffle, plus a richly chocolatey (and surprisingly not-too-sweet) red velvet waffle and a waffle topped with candied yams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the union of the chicken and the waffles — of savory and sweet — is, of course, what has long made breakfast for dinner (or breakfast for a midnight snack) one of life’s most deeply pleasurable indulgences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That alone makes Keith’s well worth a visit. It might not be the most vibey or bustling of the late-night food destinations we’ve frequented — when we visited, it seemed to be doing all takeout business past 9 p.m., as hungry teens and twentysomethings pulled up to pick up buckets of chicken and waffles before heading out into the night. But who needs vibe when the cooking is this good? The air hung thick with the smell of sweet syrup and hot fryer oil. A match, honestly, made in heaven.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://keithschickennwaffles.com/\">\u003ci>Keith’s Chicken N Waffles\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Wednesday through Saturday 11 a.m.–midnight, Sunday 11 a.m.–6 p.m. and Mondays and Tuesdays 11 a.m.–8 p.m. at 270 San Pedro Rd. in Daly City. It’s within walking distance of the Colma BART station.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979465\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979465\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-1.jpeg\" alt=\"Illustration: two men devour fried chicken and waffles inside a restaurant.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-1.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-1-160x160.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-1-768x768.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-1-1536x1536.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The fried chicken at Keith’s Chicken N Waffles is extraordinarily crunchy and flavorful. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a sparse, vaguely industrial stretch of Daly City, tucked among a cluster of auto body shops, a tiny storefront sells some of the best fried chicken in the Bay Area — dollar for dollar, almost certainly the best you can get your hands on at 10 o’clock on a Wednesday night, which is when we were inducted into the cult of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/keithschickennwaffles/?hl=en\">Keith’s Chicken N Waffles\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keith’s came onto our radar a few months ago, when it \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DEk_2lDzRty/?hl=en\">extended its hours\u003c/a> to midnight four nights a week. But for the longest time afterward, we couldn’t find any online evidence of anyone ever actually eating there late at night: No one picked up the phone the dozen or so times I called, and the one time we showed up, hungry, on a Friday night, the place was closed. No sign on the door or anything.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So we were thrilled to confirm firsthand that you \u003ci>can\u003c/i> score a plate of top-notch chicken and waffles in Daly City until midnight — or at least 11:30 p.m., when the shop puts in its last call for orders. (The hours are a little wonky, though, so if you’re trekking from the other side of the Bay, you should double-check the \u003ca href=\"https://keithschickennwaffles.com/menu\">restaurant website\u003c/a> to make sure they are in fact open and accepting orders before heading out.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shop itself looks like your standard corner soul food joint — a bit cramped and well-worn, with black and white checkerboard-tile flooring and a jaunty, muscle-bound cartoon rooster painted on the facade. A few framed paintings of Bob Marley and Tupac hang on the walls, and a hand-written sign next to the counter reads: “Don’t stare. After you order please sit your ass down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979468\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979468\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-2.jpeg\" alt=\"Exterior of a chicken and waffles restaurant lit up at night.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-2.jpeg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-2-160x160.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-2-768x768.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/keiths-2-1536x1536.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keith’s is now open late — until midnight — Wednesday through Saturday. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You will have to wait a little while, at least. One of the restaurant’s hallmarks is that the cooks fry every batch of chicken to order; there are no heat lamps to speak of. The chicken comes out burn-your-tongue hot, with a thin, well-bronzed, shatteringly crisp sheath. This was the crunchiest fried chicken I’ve eaten in recent memory, and some of the most flavorful too. I don’t know what they put in their seasoning mix, but every piece is seasoned extraordinarily well down to the last nook, cranny and crevice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the shop’s quirks is that the chicken pieces come in a range of sizes — we received a big, ample thigh, a slightly smaller one, and a rather diminutive drumstick. It didn’t bother us. If anything, the nonuniformity underscored Keith’s Chicken N Waffles’ status as a homegrown, made-from-scratch operation, not some cookie-cutter McNugget factory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you happen to be more of a chicken tender connoisseur, Keith’s still has you covered. The tenders here are plump, moist and uncommonly large — and, again, seasoned so aggressively well that you can enjoy them straight-up. (Though I did like the orange-gold, Carolina-style, honey-based barbecue sauce that the shop provided.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One remarkable thing about Keith’s is how reasonable the prices are. Combo meals — all named after rappers (the DMX, the Rick Ross and so on) — start at around $12 and come with waffles, sides, soda, the whole nine yards, and there’s always a bargain-priced daily special too (say, three wings and a waffle for $10). The upshot is you wind up paying cheaper-than-fast-food prices — I’m looking at you, Popeyes and Raising Cane’s — for fresher, more generous portions of chicken.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the soul food side dishes (soupy, well-spiced collard greens, proper Southern-style mac and cheese, and more) were all better than solid, and we decided to save the saucy party wings and promising-looking fried chicken sandwich for our next visit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Of course at Keith’s Chicken N Waffles, the chicken is only half the story. In much of the Bay Area, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/food/1337630/chicken\">fried chicken and waffles\u003c/a> is strictly a brunch-time treat, so it’s a rare pleasure to be able to score a good waffle late at night. And the waffles at Keith’s are very good, and available in a variety of flavors and sizes. We liked the standard Belgian waffle best: light, yeasty and super-buttery, with crisp edges, topped with a huge dollop of even more soft butter. It’s tasty enough that you don’t even really need to add syrup — though it’s hard to resist when the restaurant offers serve-yourself syrup, dispensed out of a gigantic coffee urn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyone with a sweet tooth should also try the mini waffle trio, which comes with a pint-sized version of the standard waffle, plus a richly chocolatey (and surprisingly not-too-sweet) red velvet waffle and a waffle topped with candied yams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the union of the chicken and the waffles — of savory and sweet — is, of course, what has long made breakfast for dinner (or breakfast for a midnight snack) one of life’s most deeply pleasurable indulgences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That alone makes Keith’s well worth a visit. It might not be the most vibey or bustling of the late-night food destinations we’ve frequented — when we visited, it seemed to be doing all takeout business past 9 p.m., as hungry teens and twentysomethings pulled up to pick up buckets of chicken and waffles before heading out into the night. But who needs vibe when the cooking is this good? The air hung thick with the smell of sweet syrup and hot fryer oil. A match, honestly, made in heaven.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://keithschickennwaffles.com/\">\u003ci>Keith’s Chicken N Waffles\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Wednesday through Saturday 11 a.m.–midnight, Sunday 11 a.m.–6 p.m. and Mondays and Tuesdays 11 a.m.–8 p.m. at 270 San Pedro Rd. in Daly City. It’s within walking distance of the Colma BART station.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "carl-bolling-dimond-kitchen-oakland-soul-food-chef-dies-obituary-reopening",
"title": "Oakland’s Favorite Late-Night Soul Food Chef Dies in a Tragic Accident",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978604\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978604\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged Black man in a black chef's coat and chef's hat smiles for a portrait.\" width=\"1800\" height=\"2521\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait.jpg 1800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-160x224.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-768x1076.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-1097x1536.jpg 1097w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-1462x2048.jpg 1462w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carl Bolling was just starting to make a name for himself at his Oakland soul food restaurant, Dimond Kitchen, when he died tragically on May 30, 2025. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Kelaija Bolling)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Carl Bolling, the chef-owner of Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dimond_kitchen_us_catering/\">Dimond Kitchen\u003c/a>, a popular \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/soul-food\">soul food\u003c/a> restaurant, died on May 30 after a tragic motorcycle accident. He was 47 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, Bolling had wanted nothing more than to share his cooking with the world, and it seemed like he was finally living out his dream: The chef’s late-night sidewalk pop-ups in downtown Oakland were the stuff of legend, and for the past year, he’d set up shop inside MacArthur Boulevard’s Two Star Market convenience store six days a week. In recent months, the bustling takeout spot, known as Dimond Kitchen, had earned a reputation as one of the Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13972834/convenience-store-soul-food-oakland-dimond-kitchen-late-night\">best soul food restaurants\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Bolling’s family says it will be up to them to carry on the chef’s legacy. His daughter, Kelaija Bolling, says she and Bolling’s girlfriend, Mone Godfrey, plan to reopen Dimond Kitchen in the same location later this month. The idea is to continue serving all of Bolling’s original recipes — his decadently juicy smothered pork chops, succulent fried chicken wings, and tender and potent collard greens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One thing I always remember my dad saying was, ‘One day I might not be there,’” Kelaija says, recalling the times she used to help out at the shop. “‘So make sure you try all the food. Make sure you write down the recipes.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978614\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978614\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen.jpg\" alt='Exterior of a convenience store. The banner above reads, \"Dimond Kitchen: Food for the Soul. Grand Opening.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"1375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-1536x1056.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">For the past year, Bolling’s food business was embedded inside the Two Star Market convenience store in Oakland’s Dimond District. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bolling, who was born and raised in Oakland, is survived by 11 children, ranging in age from seven months to 28 years old. Kelaija, 25, is a college student at Cal State East Bay. She and two of her siblings were waiting to meet Bolling at the restaurant at around 6 p.m. on May 30 when someone ran into the store saying their dad had been in a motorcycle accident just down the street, near the 2101 Club bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family initially feared it was a hit-and-run, but Kelaija says Oakland police told them both drivers were at fault. An ambulance rushed Bolling to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. He died just a few hours later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Kelaija, Bolling was a family-oriented man, regularly hosting game nights and organizing family trips to Disney World and Great America. More than anything, she remembers his lifelong passion for food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978611\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978611\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo.jpg\" alt=\"A family in matching outfits (white shirts and faded jeans) poses for a group portrait.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-160x200.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-768x960.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-1638x2048.jpg 1638w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carl Bolling (second from the left in the front row) and his children pose for a family portrait. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Kelaija Bolling)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“During the holidays — Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter — people always came to eat my dad’s cooking,” Kelaija says. “He didn’t play about his cooking. Everybody loved his food.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Bolling decided to give running his own food business a shot. Kelaija says it all started when he tried a plate of hot links from a street festival vendor. “My dad was a real foodie person, like Gordon Ramsay,” Kelaija says. If he ate something he didn’t think was up to snuff, he’d call it like it was — and after tasting those mediocre hot links, Bolling started thinking he could do better himself. In 2018, he started doing late-night pop-ups in downtown Oakland as a side hustle, selling mostly barbecue at first before expanding the menu to include other soul food dishes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978610\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978610\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food.jpg\" alt=\"Takeout containers loaded with soul food — smothered pork shops, green beans, fried chicken — on the hood of a car.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A spread of Dimond Kitchen’s decadent soul food dishes. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kelaija, who would often help out with these informal sidewalk pop-ups, recalls they’d often sell food until as late as 3 or 4 a.m., after the bars and clubs let out. Bolling touted himself as the Bay Area’s only late-night soul food chef, and parlayed his pop-up success into a thriving catering business and, in the spring of 2024, the launch of his first brick-and-mortar spot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As it turned out, I profiled the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13972834/convenience-store-soul-food-oakland-dimond-kitchen-late-night\">late-night scene at Dimond Kitchen\u003c/a> only two months before Bolling’s death but never had a chance to have a proper conversation with the chef. I remember the first time I visited the restaurant, Bolling had apologized that there was a long wait — and threw in an extra side of (incredibly delicious) candied yams to make up for it. Before that, I’d watched him chat with an older gentleman who kept asking for a plate, promising he’d have the money to pay for it in the morning. “I’m good for it,” the man kept saying. “You’re killing me,” Bolling responded drily. But he hooked the guy up in the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978609\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978609\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen.jpg\" alt=\"A chef ladling food into a tray inside a restaurant kitchen.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1374\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen-1536x1055.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bolling’s lifelong passion was food. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Kelaija Bolling)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to Kelaija, that kind of generosity was her father’s hallmark. One of her favorite memories took place just a few weeks before his death. The two of them had just finished up service for the night when Bolling told her they were going to pack up all their leftover food so they could pass it out to unhoused folks on International Boulevard. “He would do that regularly,” she says. “That’s why a lot of people loved my dad and why they had so much respect for him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13972834']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>And that’s the spirit of hospitality that Kelaija says she and Bolling’s girlfriend now hope they’ll be able to help carry on. Bolling’s family has started a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-continue-our-fathers-food-legacy?attribution_id=sl:7fc1ce25-7e6e-46fa-b75d-f4a41d8148f9&utm_campaign=natman_sharesheet_dash&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=sms\">GoFundMe\u003c/a> to raise money to keep Dimond Kitchen going — and eventually, she hopes, to launch a food truck or larger sit-down restaurant bearing her father’s name. While the takeout counter inside Two Star Market is currently closed, Kelaija says she’s hoping to reopen it sometime in the next couple of weeks. She’s already started picking up some catering gigs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like [my father] would want us to continue it because that’s what his passion was — to expand the business even further,” Kelaija says. “Because he was still in the process of getting his name out there.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978604\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978604\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait.jpg\" alt=\"A middle-aged Black man in a black chef's coat and chef's hat smiles for a portrait.\" width=\"1800\" height=\"2521\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait.jpg 1800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-160x224.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-768x1076.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-1097x1536.jpg 1097w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-portrait-1462x2048.jpg 1462w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carl Bolling was just starting to make a name for himself at his Oakland soul food restaurant, Dimond Kitchen, when he died tragically on May 30, 2025. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Kelaija Bolling)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Carl Bolling, the chef-owner of Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dimond_kitchen_us_catering/\">Dimond Kitchen\u003c/a>, a popular \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/soul-food\">soul food\u003c/a> restaurant, died on May 30 after a tragic motorcycle accident. He was 47 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, Bolling had wanted nothing more than to share his cooking with the world, and it seemed like he was finally living out his dream: The chef’s late-night sidewalk pop-ups in downtown Oakland were the stuff of legend, and for the past year, he’d set up shop inside MacArthur Boulevard’s Two Star Market convenience store six days a week. In recent months, the bustling takeout spot, known as Dimond Kitchen, had earned a reputation as one of the Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13972834/convenience-store-soul-food-oakland-dimond-kitchen-late-night\">best soul food restaurants\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Bolling’s family says it will be up to them to carry on the chef’s legacy. His daughter, Kelaija Bolling, says she and Bolling’s girlfriend, Mone Godfrey, plan to reopen Dimond Kitchen in the same location later this month. The idea is to continue serving all of Bolling’s original recipes — his decadently juicy smothered pork chops, succulent fried chicken wings, and tender and potent collard greens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One thing I always remember my dad saying was, ‘One day I might not be there,’” Kelaija says, recalling the times she used to help out at the shop. “‘So make sure you try all the food. Make sure you write down the recipes.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978614\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978614\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen.jpg\" alt='Exterior of a convenience store. The banner above reads, \"Dimond Kitchen: Food for the Soul. Grand Opening.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"1375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-1536x1056.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">For the past year, Bolling’s food business was embedded inside the Two Star Market convenience store in Oakland’s Dimond District. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bolling, who was born and raised in Oakland, is survived by 11 children, ranging in age from seven months to 28 years old. Kelaija, 25, is a college student at Cal State East Bay. She and two of her siblings were waiting to meet Bolling at the restaurant at around 6 p.m. on May 30 when someone ran into the store saying their dad had been in a motorcycle accident just down the street, near the 2101 Club bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family initially feared it was a hit-and-run, but Kelaija says Oakland police told them both drivers were at fault. An ambulance rushed Bolling to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. He died just a few hours later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Kelaija, Bolling was a family-oriented man, regularly hosting game nights and organizing family trips to Disney World and Great America. More than anything, she remembers his lifelong passion for food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978611\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978611\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo.jpg\" alt=\"A family in matching outfits (white shirts and faded jeans) poses for a group portrait.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-160x200.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-768x960.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/bolling-family-photo-1638x2048.jpg 1638w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carl Bolling (second from the left in the front row) and his children pose for a family portrait. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Kelaija Bolling)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“During the holidays — Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter — people always came to eat my dad’s cooking,” Kelaija says. “He didn’t play about his cooking. Everybody loved his food.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eventually, Bolling decided to give running his own food business a shot. Kelaija says it all started when he tried a plate of hot links from a street festival vendor. “My dad was a real foodie person, like Gordon Ramsay,” Kelaija says. If he ate something he didn’t think was up to snuff, he’d call it like it was — and after tasting those mediocre hot links, Bolling started thinking he could do better himself. In 2018, he started doing late-night pop-ups in downtown Oakland as a side hustle, selling mostly barbecue at first before expanding the menu to include other soul food dishes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978610\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978610\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food.jpg\" alt=\"Takeout containers loaded with soul food — smothered pork shops, green beans, fried chicken — on the hood of a car.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/dimond-kitchen-food-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A spread of Dimond Kitchen’s decadent soul food dishes. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kelaija, who would often help out with these informal sidewalk pop-ups, recalls they’d often sell food until as late as 3 or 4 a.m., after the bars and clubs let out. Bolling touted himself as the Bay Area’s only late-night soul food chef, and parlayed his pop-up success into a thriving catering business and, in the spring of 2024, the launch of his first brick-and-mortar spot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As it turned out, I profiled the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13972834/convenience-store-soul-food-oakland-dimond-kitchen-late-night\">late-night scene at Dimond Kitchen\u003c/a> only two months before Bolling’s death but never had a chance to have a proper conversation with the chef. I remember the first time I visited the restaurant, Bolling had apologized that there was a long wait — and threw in an extra side of (incredibly delicious) candied yams to make up for it. Before that, I’d watched him chat with an older gentleman who kept asking for a plate, promising he’d have the money to pay for it in the morning. “I’m good for it,” the man kept saying. “You’re killing me,” Bolling responded drily. But he hooked the guy up in the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978609\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13978609\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen.jpg\" alt=\"A chef ladling food into a tray inside a restaurant kitchen.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1374\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/07/carl-bolling-kitchen-1536x1055.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bolling’s lifelong passion was food. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Kelaija Bolling)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to Kelaija, that kind of generosity was her father’s hallmark. One of her favorite memories took place just a few weeks before his death. The two of them had just finished up service for the night when Bolling told her they were going to pack up all their leftover food so they could pass it out to unhoused folks on International Boulevard. “He would do that regularly,” she says. “That’s why a lot of people loved my dad and why they had so much respect for him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>And that’s the spirit of hospitality that Kelaija says she and Bolling’s girlfriend now hope they’ll be able to help carry on. Bolling’s family has started a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-continue-our-fathers-food-legacy?attribution_id=sl:7fc1ce25-7e6e-46fa-b75d-f4a41d8148f9&utm_campaign=natman_sharesheet_dash&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=sms\">GoFundMe\u003c/a> to raise money to keep Dimond Kitchen going — and eventually, she hopes, to launch a food truck or larger sit-down restaurant bearing her father’s name. While the takeout counter inside Two Star Market is currently closed, Kelaija says she’s hoping to reopen it sometime in the next couple of weeks. She’s already started picking up some catering gigs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like [my father] would want us to continue it because that’s what his passion was — to expand the business even further,” Kelaija says. “Because he was still in the process of getting his name out there.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Hella Juneteenth Brings a Good Old-Fashioned Cookout to the Museum",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Ryan Royster and Byron Hughes were tasked with putting together the food menu for 2021’s inaugural \u003ca href=\"https://www.hellajuneteenth.com/\">Hella Juneteenth\u003c/a> festival in Sacramento, the first thing they thought about were the backyard \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/barbecue\">barbecues\u003c/a> that had been a staple in their lives since they were kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a cookout, everyone would pitch in. “Your uncle might have been on the grill, and your aunt made the potato salad, and grandma made the mac and cheese,” Royster recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13976970']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The co-founders of \u003ca href=\"https://www.lastsuppersociety.com/\">Last Supper Society\u003c/a>, a self-styled experiential creative house and \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2022/9/9/23344692/last-supper-society-sacramento\">underground dining club\u003c/a>, knew they wanted to create “an intentional cultural moment,” as Royster puts it, for the first big Juneteenth gathering since the start of the pandemic — and the first since the holiday received \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11878430/biden-signs-bill-making-juneteenth-a-federal-holiday\">federal recognition\u003c/a>. How could they take that cookout concept, which was so quintessential and deeply personal in Black communities, and translate it to a large-scale event?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The answer, they decided, was the “Cookout Plate.” Instead of the kind of a la carte food-truck hop that’s typical of big festivals, guests could purchase one cohesive, carefully curated plate, just like the one your auntie might hand you at the cookout — except that each entree, side and dessert would be cooked by a talented Black Bay Area chef.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977532\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977532\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-18_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A volunteer ladles a big scoop of mac and cheese from a tray onto a paper plate.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-18_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-18_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-18_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-18_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mac and cheese getting served for the 2024 edition of Hella Juneteenth’s “Cookout Plate.” Juneteenth, which was designated a federal holiday in 2021, is a day of community and celebrating Black joy, freedom and culture. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now held at the Oakland Museum of California, this year’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.hellajuneteenth.com/about-hella-creative\">Hella Creative\u003c/a>–produced Juneteenth event on June 19 will continue the Cookout Plate tradition. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/byronthe3rd/?hl=en\">Hughes\u003c/a>, an accomplished chef in his own right, has curated a plate featuring dishes from six different chefs: a black-eyed pea salad by Fernay McPherson of SF’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.minniebellssoul.com/\">Minnie Bell’s\u003c/a>, barbecue chicken from James Woodard of \u003ca href=\"https://smokinwoodsbbq.com/\">Smokin’ Woods BBQ\u003c/a> in Oakland, and mac and cheese by Michele McQueen at the museum’s own \u003ca href=\"https://townfarecafe.com/\">Town Fare\u003c/a> cafe. The Sacramento-based vegan chef \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/botanicalchef/?hl=en\">Nina Curtis\u003c/a> will contribute spicy grilled plant-based sausages and peppers to the plate, and for dessert, \u003ca href=\"https://poundbizness.com/\">Pound Bizness\u003c/a> bakers Nicole and Reggie Borders will serve lemon and 7 Up pound cakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyone who’s ever organized a big cookout knows that putting together a cohesive meal requires a certain setting aside of egos. After all, Royster says, “A lot of people think that their mac and cheese is the best.” But while all of the participating chefs wanted to put their best foot forward, they also understood that Juneteenth — which celebrates the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States — was about more than just making the food taste good. Ideally, the cookout plate would also make people feel a sense of nostalgia and joy. “Let’s pull on some heartstrings,” Royster says. “Let’s dive into cultural memory.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977533\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977533\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-37_qed.jpg\" alt=\"Dancers dancing onstage in an outdoor amphitheater.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-37_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-37_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-37_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-37_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hella Juneteenth festivities will also include live DJs and plenty of dancing — as seen at the 2024 edition of the event. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The same goes for the rest of the Hella Juneteenth festivities, which will be spread across OMCA’s amphitheater and garden grounds. There will be wine tastings, Spades and dominoes tournaments, and facepainting for kids. The Golden State Valkyries will set up a half-court basketball court for anyone who wants to shoot some hoops. Live DJs will be behind the decks all afternoon, and folks will sprawl out on the grass with blankets and lawn chairs, enjoying the food and drink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13956178,arts_13953702']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Royster says that at this moment, when there has been a conscious effort to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13975661/national-endowment-for-the-arts-grants-canceled-nonprofits\">stamp out\u003c/a> certain \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13977200/the-great-quiet-quitting-of-dei-in-bay-area-arts\">cultural initiatives\u003c/a>, it’s more important than ever to celebrate Black joy and Black empowerment. “Regardless of what’s happening on the federal level or anywhere else, what we have seen is that the demand here in the Bay Area [for this kind of event] has not wavered,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all, he says, what holiday could be more American than Juneteenth? “If you’re a person who supports freedom as an American ideal, you should be celebrating Juneteenth,” Royster says. “More people gaining freedom has to be what America is about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977534\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977534\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-16_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman reading a book while seated on the grass surrounded by other picnickers.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-16_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-16_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-16_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-16_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charity Nichols reads a book on the lawn at last year’s Hella Juneteenth event on the Oakland Museum’s garden grounds. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This year’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.hellajuneteenth.com/\">Hella Juneteenth Festival\u003c/a> will take place at the Oakland Museum of California (1000 Oak St., Oakland) on June 19, 12–5 p.m. Tickets are \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hella-juneteenth-festival-a-celebration-of-black-culture-in-oakland-tickets-1319420374859?aff=web\">\u003ci>available online\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>; guests can also pre-purchase their Cookout Plate ($30), since they’re likely to sell out over the course of the event.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Ryan Royster and Byron Hughes were tasked with putting together the food menu for 2021’s inaugural \u003ca href=\"https://www.hellajuneteenth.com/\">Hella Juneteenth\u003c/a> festival in Sacramento, the first thing they thought about were the backyard \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/barbecue\">barbecues\u003c/a> that had been a staple in their lives since they were kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a cookout, everyone would pitch in. “Your uncle might have been on the grill, and your aunt made the potato salad, and grandma made the mac and cheese,” Royster recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The co-founders of \u003ca href=\"https://www.lastsuppersociety.com/\">Last Supper Society\u003c/a>, a self-styled experiential creative house and \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2022/9/9/23344692/last-supper-society-sacramento\">underground dining club\u003c/a>, knew they wanted to create “an intentional cultural moment,” as Royster puts it, for the first big Juneteenth gathering since the start of the pandemic — and the first since the holiday received \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11878430/biden-signs-bill-making-juneteenth-a-federal-holiday\">federal recognition\u003c/a>. How could they take that cookout concept, which was so quintessential and deeply personal in Black communities, and translate it to a large-scale event?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The answer, they decided, was the “Cookout Plate.” Instead of the kind of a la carte food-truck hop that’s typical of big festivals, guests could purchase one cohesive, carefully curated plate, just like the one your auntie might hand you at the cookout — except that each entree, side and dessert would be cooked by a talented Black Bay Area chef.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977532\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977532\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-18_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A volunteer ladles a big scoop of mac and cheese from a tray onto a paper plate.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-18_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-18_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-18_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-18_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mac and cheese getting served for the 2024 edition of Hella Juneteenth’s “Cookout Plate.” Juneteenth, which was designated a federal holiday in 2021, is a day of community and celebrating Black joy, freedom and culture. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now held at the Oakland Museum of California, this year’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.hellajuneteenth.com/about-hella-creative\">Hella Creative\u003c/a>–produced Juneteenth event on June 19 will continue the Cookout Plate tradition. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/byronthe3rd/?hl=en\">Hughes\u003c/a>, an accomplished chef in his own right, has curated a plate featuring dishes from six different chefs: a black-eyed pea salad by Fernay McPherson of SF’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.minniebellssoul.com/\">Minnie Bell’s\u003c/a>, barbecue chicken from James Woodard of \u003ca href=\"https://smokinwoodsbbq.com/\">Smokin’ Woods BBQ\u003c/a> in Oakland, and mac and cheese by Michele McQueen at the museum’s own \u003ca href=\"https://townfarecafe.com/\">Town Fare\u003c/a> cafe. The Sacramento-based vegan chef \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/botanicalchef/?hl=en\">Nina Curtis\u003c/a> will contribute spicy grilled plant-based sausages and peppers to the plate, and for dessert, \u003ca href=\"https://poundbizness.com/\">Pound Bizness\u003c/a> bakers Nicole and Reggie Borders will serve lemon and 7 Up pound cakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyone who’s ever organized a big cookout knows that putting together a cohesive meal requires a certain setting aside of egos. After all, Royster says, “A lot of people think that their mac and cheese is the best.” But while all of the participating chefs wanted to put their best foot forward, they also understood that Juneteenth — which celebrates the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States — was about more than just making the food taste good. Ideally, the cookout plate would also make people feel a sense of nostalgia and joy. “Let’s pull on some heartstrings,” Royster says. “Let’s dive into cultural memory.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977533\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977533\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-37_qed.jpg\" alt=\"Dancers dancing onstage in an outdoor amphitheater.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-37_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-37_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-37_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-37_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hella Juneteenth festivities will also include live DJs and plenty of dancing — as seen at the 2024 edition of the event. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The same goes for the rest of the Hella Juneteenth festivities, which will be spread across OMCA’s amphitheater and garden grounds. There will be wine tastings, Spades and dominoes tournaments, and facepainting for kids. The Golden State Valkyries will set up a half-court basketball court for anyone who wants to shoot some hoops. Live DJs will be behind the decks all afternoon, and folks will sprawl out on the grass with blankets and lawn chairs, enjoying the food and drink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Royster says that at this moment, when there has been a conscious effort to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13975661/national-endowment-for-the-arts-grants-canceled-nonprofits\">stamp out\u003c/a> certain \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13977200/the-great-quiet-quitting-of-dei-in-bay-area-arts\">cultural initiatives\u003c/a>, it’s more important than ever to celebrate Black joy and Black empowerment. “Regardless of what’s happening on the federal level or anywhere else, what we have seen is that the demand here in the Bay Area [for this kind of event] has not wavered,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all, he says, what holiday could be more American than Juneteenth? “If you’re a person who supports freedom as an American ideal, you should be celebrating Juneteenth,” Royster says. “More people gaining freedom has to be what America is about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977534\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977534\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-16_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman reading a book while seated on the grass surrounded by other picnickers.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-16_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-16_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-16_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/20240619_JuneteenthCookout_GC-16_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charity Nichols reads a book on the lawn at last year’s Hella Juneteenth event on the Oakland Museum’s garden grounds. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This year’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.hellajuneteenth.com/\">Hella Juneteenth Festival\u003c/a> will take place at the Oakland Museum of California (1000 Oak St., Oakland) on June 19, 12–5 p.m. Tickets are \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hella-juneteenth-festival-a-celebration-of-black-culture-in-oakland-tickets-1319420374859?aff=web\">\u003ci>available online\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>; guests can also pre-purchase their Cookout Plate ($30), since they’re likely to sell out over the course of the event.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Some of the Bay Area’s Tastiest Soul Food Is Sold Out of a Convenience Store in Oakland",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972837\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972837\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1.jpg\" alt=\"Two men in glasses devouring chicken wings, collard greens, mac and cheese, and other soul food dishes.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sold inside the Two Star Market convenience store in Oakland, Dimond Kitchen’s soul food is so good, you want devour it right away — even if there aren’t any tables or chairs. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Located across the street from a weed dispensary in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland’s\u003c/a> Dimond District, the Two Star Market looks like any other corner convenience store in the Bay — bright fluorescent lights, fridges stacked with beer and wine coolers, and shelves upon shelves of chips and candy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, except for this: The store also features a fully equipped kitchen that serves some of the tastiest soul food in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dimond Kitchen,” the grand opening banner outside reads. “Food for the Soul.” The restaurant-inside-a-corner-store markets itself as the Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dimond_kitchen_us_catering/\">only late-night soul food spot\u003c/a>, which seems \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13969092/late-night-soul-food-gumbo-san-leandro-nellas-place\">mostly true\u003c/a> — even if it was \u003ci>more\u003c/i> apt a few years ago when the business used to set up on the sidewalk, on Broadway or Telegraph, selling ribs and meatloaf plates to the bar crowd until as late as 2 a.m. These days, the convenience store iteration of Dimond Kitchen is open until midnight on weekends, and that still feels like a miracle — to be able to snag a piping-hot plate of pork chops, greens, and mac and cheese during your late-night liquor store run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My abiding love of restaurants embedded inside \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/hidden-in-plain-sight-norma-meat-amp-deli-1/\">liquor stores\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950577/halal-king-yemeni-restaurant-gas-station-richmond\">gas station convenience stores\u003c/a> is well-documented at this point, including a long obsession with \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/borinquen-soul-dishes-out-puerto-rican-grandma-food-inside-an-oakland-convenience-store-2-1/\">Borinquen Soul\u003c/a>, which sold the most delicious Puerto Rican pernil and arroz con gandules I’d ever eaten out of this very same slightly janky corner store kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What I love most, I think, is the joy of discovery — of stumbling on unexpected deliciousness in an unusually casual or inappropriate setting. “What?” we said to the woman working the counter at 10 o’clock on a recent Friday night. “You serve \u003ci>oxtails\u003c/i> on the weekend?” Even before we’d ordered our food, we were making plans to come back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Dimond Kitchen, you should be prepared for the food to take a little while, especially if you order anything beyond the spread of entrees and side dishes already laid out in warming trays on the steam table. The chicken wings are fried to order. So are the pork chops, before they get smothered in gravy. And the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13900855/garlic-noodles-sf-bay-area-iconic-foods-thanh-long-smellys\">garlic noodles\u003c/a> are tossed fresh in a hot pan — again, all to order. With just one or two cooks cranking plates out of that tiny, bootstrapped convenience store kitchen, it’s no wonder we waited a solid 40 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972838\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972838\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Oakland-style picnic. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>How much you enjoy that wait might depend on how you feel about the late-night corner store vibe, which has its own brand of joyously chaotic Town energy. A white guy in a hoodie tried to sweet-talk the staff into letting him buy a (nonexistent) “two-meat, one-side” combo plate. (“It’s twice the meat, half the sorrow,” he quipped, nonsensically.) A young woman with long braids slapped a couple of dollar bills onto the counter after the chef gave her a few extra tubs of housemade hot sauce, shrugging him off when he said she didn’t have to pay. Every once in a while, someone would burst into the store cussing jovially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Chef, you can smell that shit up the street!” one of them shouted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most everyone seemed like they were a regular. Which makes sense because once our food arrived, each takeout carton steaming-hot and filled almost to overflowing, we stopped thinking about anything else except how astoundingly delicious it all was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13972197,arts_13969092,arts_13966030']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The special of the day was smothered pork chops — juicy, bone-in specimens drowned generously in a savory brown gravy that was pitch perfect, neither too thick nor too thin. The kind of gravy that makes you want to eat a boatload of white rice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another excellent vehicle for rice (or noodles) was the garlic shrimp. Vaguely Alfredo-like in its creamy richness, the sauce was slightly spicy, a little bit sweet, and thoroughly addicting. Meanwhile, the fried chicken wings — arguably the staple of the menu — were plump and full-sized (with the tips attached), impeccably seasoned and succulent as all get-out. These were as delicious plain as they were with a drizzle of Crystal or the restaurant’s sweet, housemade hot sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What really made the meal, however, was the abundance of side dishes, which we found to be even tastier than the mains. There were sweet, syrupy yams and gloriously golden-crusted jalapeño mac and cheese. There was dirty rice that \u003ci>actually\u003c/i> tasted dirty, in the best way, with a livery depth of flavor we couldn’t get enough of. Best of all, there were soft collard greens soaked in a pool of potlikker so tasty and potent, I would happily drink a whole bowl of it on its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It all comes out smelling so intoxicatingly good, you want to devour it right away — which is a slight problem, because the corner-store setting means there aren’t any tables or seats to speak of. But on a clear evening, when the night air isn’t too chilly, you can do what we did and set up a very Oakland-style picnic: Lay your bounty on the hood of your car, right there in the convenience store parking lot. Roll up your sleeves. And dig in.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dimond_kitchen_us_catering/\">\u003ci>Dimond Kitchen\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Tuesday through Thursday, 2–10 p.m., and Friday through Sunday 1 p.m.–midnight inside Two Star Market at 2020 MacArthur Blvd. in Oakland — though it’s best to call ahead to confirm their hours.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972837\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972837\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1.jpg\" alt=\"Two men in glasses devouring chicken wings, collard greens, mac and cheese, and other soul food dishes.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sold inside the Two Star Market convenience store in Oakland, Dimond Kitchen’s soul food is so good, you want devour it right away — even if there aren’t any tables or chairs. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Located across the street from a weed dispensary in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland’s\u003c/a> Dimond District, the Two Star Market looks like any other corner convenience store in the Bay — bright fluorescent lights, fridges stacked with beer and wine coolers, and shelves upon shelves of chips and candy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, except for this: The store also features a fully equipped kitchen that serves some of the tastiest soul food in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dimond Kitchen,” the grand opening banner outside reads. “Food for the Soul.” The restaurant-inside-a-corner-store markets itself as the Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dimond_kitchen_us_catering/\">only late-night soul food spot\u003c/a>, which seems \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13969092/late-night-soul-food-gumbo-san-leandro-nellas-place\">mostly true\u003c/a> — even if it was \u003ci>more\u003c/i> apt a few years ago when the business used to set up on the sidewalk, on Broadway or Telegraph, selling ribs and meatloaf plates to the bar crowd until as late as 2 a.m. These days, the convenience store iteration of Dimond Kitchen is open until midnight on weekends, and that still feels like a miracle — to be able to snag a piping-hot plate of pork chops, greens, and mac and cheese during your late-night liquor store run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My abiding love of restaurants embedded inside \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/hidden-in-plain-sight-norma-meat-amp-deli-1/\">liquor stores\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950577/halal-king-yemeni-restaurant-gas-station-richmond\">gas station convenience stores\u003c/a> is well-documented at this point, including a long obsession with \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/borinquen-soul-dishes-out-puerto-rican-grandma-food-inside-an-oakland-convenience-store-2-1/\">Borinquen Soul\u003c/a>, which sold the most delicious Puerto Rican pernil and arroz con gandules I’d ever eaten out of this very same slightly janky corner store kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What I love most, I think, is the joy of discovery — of stumbling on unexpected deliciousness in an unusually casual or inappropriate setting. “What?” we said to the woman working the counter at 10 o’clock on a recent Friday night. “You serve \u003ci>oxtails\u003c/i> on the weekend?” Even before we’d ordered our food, we were making plans to come back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Dimond Kitchen, you should be prepared for the food to take a little while, especially if you order anything beyond the spread of entrees and side dishes already laid out in warming trays on the steam table. The chicken wings are fried to order. So are the pork chops, before they get smothered in gravy. And the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13900855/garlic-noodles-sf-bay-area-iconic-foods-thanh-long-smellys\">garlic noodles\u003c/a> are tossed fresh in a hot pan — again, all to order. With just one or two cooks cranking plates out of that tiny, bootstrapped convenience store kitchen, it’s no wonder we waited a solid 40 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972838\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972838\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Oakland-style picnic. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>How much you enjoy that wait might depend on how you feel about the late-night corner store vibe, which has its own brand of joyously chaotic Town energy. A white guy in a hoodie tried to sweet-talk the staff into letting him buy a (nonexistent) “two-meat, one-side” combo plate. (“It’s twice the meat, half the sorrow,” he quipped, nonsensically.) A young woman with long braids slapped a couple of dollar bills onto the counter after the chef gave her a few extra tubs of housemade hot sauce, shrugging him off when he said she didn’t have to pay. Every once in a while, someone would burst into the store cussing jovially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Chef, you can smell that shit up the street!” one of them shouted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most everyone seemed like they were a regular. Which makes sense because once our food arrived, each takeout carton steaming-hot and filled almost to overflowing, we stopped thinking about anything else except how astoundingly delicious it all was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The special of the day was smothered pork chops — juicy, bone-in specimens drowned generously in a savory brown gravy that was pitch perfect, neither too thick nor too thin. The kind of gravy that makes you want to eat a boatload of white rice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another excellent vehicle for rice (or noodles) was the garlic shrimp. Vaguely Alfredo-like in its creamy richness, the sauce was slightly spicy, a little bit sweet, and thoroughly addicting. Meanwhile, the fried chicken wings — arguably the staple of the menu — were plump and full-sized (with the tips attached), impeccably seasoned and succulent as all get-out. These were as delicious plain as they were with a drizzle of Crystal or the restaurant’s sweet, housemade hot sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What really made the meal, however, was the abundance of side dishes, which we found to be even tastier than the mains. There were sweet, syrupy yams and gloriously golden-crusted jalapeño mac and cheese. There was dirty rice that \u003ci>actually\u003c/i> tasted dirty, in the best way, with a livery depth of flavor we couldn’t get enough of. Best of all, there were soft collard greens soaked in a pool of potlikker so tasty and potent, I would happily drink a whole bowl of it on its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It all comes out smelling so intoxicatingly good, you want to devour it right away — which is a slight problem, because the corner-store setting means there aren’t any tables or seats to speak of. But on a clear evening, when the night air isn’t too chilly, you can do what we did and set up a very Oakland-style picnic: Lay your bounty on the hood of your car, right there in the convenience store parking lot. Roll up your sleeves. And dig in.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dimond_kitchen_us_catering/\">\u003ci>Dimond Kitchen\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Tuesday through Thursday, 2–10 p.m., and Friday through Sunday 1 p.m.–midnight inside Two Star Market at 2020 MacArthur Blvd. in Oakland — though it’s best to call ahead to confirm their hours.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A New Film Celebrates Edna Lewis, the ‘Mother of Soul Food’ Who Shaped How America Eats",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Deb Freeman started researching Virginia foodways about 10 years ago, Edna Lewis’ \u003ci>Taste of Country Cooking \u003c/i>was the first thing that came up in her Google search. Freeman was just starting out as a food writer at the time, and when she read the book, she marveled at Lewis’ stories about life in an all-Black farming community in Freetown, Virginia in the early 20th century, and at the elegant beauty of her prose. “It was almost like the recipes were secondary,” Freeman recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Freeman soon learned that \u003ci>The Taste of Country Cooking\u003c/i> might be the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/15/t-magazine/most-influential-cookbooks.html\">most influential American cookbook\u003c/a> of the past hundred years. And so she couldn’t stop thinking: \u003ci>Why hadn’t anybody told her about Edna Lewis before\u003c/i>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Freeman is the host and executive producer of \u003ci>Finding Edna Lewis\u003c/i>, a new documentary about the chef’s life that \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/show/finding-edna-lewis/\">premiered on PBS\u003c/a> this week. The film is her attempt to address that oversight, bringing Lewis’ story to a larger mainstream audience — including food lovers here in the Bay Area. Toward that end, Freeman will host a screening and celebration of Lewis’ life — complete with snacks inspired by her recipes — at San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/museum-of-the-african-diaspora\">Museum of the African Diaspora\u003c/a> (MoAD) on March 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Uof7u2qag\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lewis, of course, \u003ci>did \u003c/i>become a tremendously famous chef by the time she died in 2006. She has been hailed as the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/edna-lewis-the-mother-of-soul-food-180982117/\">mother of soul food\u003c/a>” and the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2006/02/18/5222253/the-life-and-legacy-of-southern-cook-edna-lewis\">first lady of Southern cooking\u003c/a>.” For many home cooks, her recipes for biscuits, dinner rolls and pan-fried chicken are canon. She even has her own \u003ca href=\"https://postalmuseum.si.edu/object/npm_2014.2032.1\">postage stamp\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in Freeman’s view, Miss Lewis — as everyone called her — is still strangely under-recognized. Many food enthusiasts only have a broad notion of her as a famous Southern chef, if they’ve even heard of her at all. “When I think about the culinary pantheon, unfortunately to most of America, Edna Lewis is not on that monument,” Freeman says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so, during a podcast interview two years ago, Freeman wondered aloud, “Where is the documentary on Edna Lewis’ life? Where is the sort of HBO prestige series that Julia Child has?” As it turns out, documentary filmmakers \u003ca href=\"https://www.fieldstudiofilms.com/about\">Hannah Ayers and Lance Warren\u003c/a> heard the interview and reached out to Freeman to collaborate on exactly that — what eventually became \u003ci>Finding Edna Lewis\u003c/i>, which aired last year as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.vpm.org/finding-edna-lewis\">six-part web series\u003c/a> through Virginia Public Media. Now, Freeman and her team have turned the series into a more polished hour-long documentary that includes breathtaking, newly digitized \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/12/25/nx-s1-5231813/listen-in-on-a-conversation-with-author-and-chef-edna-lewis\">recordings of Lewis’ voice\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the documentary, Freeman retraces the steps of Lewis’ journey, first traveling to Freetown to explore her upbringing in this tiny rural community that was established by freed enslaved people. “It was like one big family,” we hear Lewis say. “I always felt loved and unafraid because everybody was your parent. Everybody loved you. I’ve never lived in a community like that since.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From there, Freeman heads to New York, where a 16-year-old Lewis moved during the Great Migration and made a name for herself, first as a seamstress and then as the chef at Café Nicholson, on the East Side of Manhattan, which became a gathering place for literary figures like Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal and Truman Capote (who’d duck his head in the kitchen and ask Lewis to make him some fried chicken). She travels to South Carolina, where Lewis spent three years working as the chef-in-residence at a former plantation, and then back up to Brooklyn, where she became the executive chef at a grand old chop house called Gage & Tollner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972089\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972089\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A chef in an apron reading a cookbook.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the kitchen with chef Mashama Bailey (right) of The Grey, an upscale Southern restaurant in Savannah, Georgia. Bailey is one of many chefs inspired by Lewis who are interviewed in the documentary. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Field Studio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In retracing each stage of the chef’s life, Freeman interviews chefs, writers and food historians who’ve drawn inspiration from Lewis’ life and her approach to cooking. According to Freeman, one of the biggest points she wanted to highlight was how Lewis brought Black Southern foodways — and Virginia’s foodways, in particular — to national prominence, and how that really shaped the way the whole country eats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you think of Southern food, you think of the greatest hits. You think of fried chicken and mac and cheese — these really heavy, decadent staples,” Freeman says. “But I think that [Lewis’] cookbook highlighted that seasonality is really what drives Southern cooking, and a lot of it is vegetable-based.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13892514,arts_13969092,arts_13956178']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Here in the Bay Area, especially, it’s practically seen as gospel truth that Alice Waters and Chez Panisse were the ones who first popularized what we now know as farm-to-table dining in the 1970s. But \u003ci>Finding Edna Lewis \u003c/i>convincingly argues that Lewis was preaching this simple, seasonal approach to cooking up and down the East Coast several decades earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve seen an interview where Alice Waters gives Edna Lewis credit, but you don’t hear about that,” Freeman says. “Farm-to-table is a huge part of our vernacular at this point, and so I do think you’ve got to give credit where credit is due.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond the recipes themselves, Freeman also believes there’s power in examining — and celebrating — Lewis’ remarkable life, which also included stints as a typist for the Communist Party and as a pheasant farmer. And even though she endured plenty of hardship living through Jim Crow, Lewis also “lived a beautiful, idyllic life,” Virginia chef Leah Branch says in the documentary. “For Black people, it doesn’t have to be all rising up from the ashes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or, as culinary historian Leni Sorensen says toward the end of the film, about Lewis’ career in food, “It didn’t save the planet. It didn’t stop segregation. It didn’t stop lynching. [Lewis isn’t] saying any of that. She’s saying, ‘In this little place, for this little time, we had this. And it was beautiful.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those in the Bay Area who want to learn more about Lewis’ beautiful, history-making life, Freeman will join MoAD chef-in-residence Jocelyn Jackson and the author and food activist Bryant Terry for an afternoon screening and discussion of \u003ci>Finding Edna Lewis \u003c/i>on March 2. Of course, no Edna Lewis event would be complete without a spread of delicious food — in this case supplied by Fernay McPherson \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13956178/minnie-bells-soul-food-restaurant-fillmore-sf-opening\">of Minnie Bell’s\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>MoAD’s (685 Mission St., San Francisco) \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.moadsf.org/event/moad-chef-in-residence-jocelyn-jackson-presents-finding-edna-lewis\">Finding Edna Lewis\u003ci> event\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is on Sunday, March 2, from 1–4 p.m. — tickets are $5 plus museum admission. The \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/show/finding-edna-lewis/\">\u003ci>full documentary\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is available to stream now on PBS.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Deb Freeman started researching Virginia foodways about 10 years ago, Edna Lewis’ \u003ci>Taste of Country Cooking \u003c/i>was the first thing that came up in her Google search. Freeman was just starting out as a food writer at the time, and when she read the book, she marveled at Lewis’ stories about life in an all-Black farming community in Freetown, Virginia in the early 20th century, and at the elegant beauty of her prose. “It was almost like the recipes were secondary,” Freeman recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Freeman soon learned that \u003ci>The Taste of Country Cooking\u003c/i> might be the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/15/t-magazine/most-influential-cookbooks.html\">most influential American cookbook\u003c/a> of the past hundred years. And so she couldn’t stop thinking: \u003ci>Why hadn’t anybody told her about Edna Lewis before\u003c/i>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Freeman is the host and executive producer of \u003ci>Finding Edna Lewis\u003c/i>, a new documentary about the chef’s life that \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/show/finding-edna-lewis/\">premiered on PBS\u003c/a> this week. The film is her attempt to address that oversight, bringing Lewis’ story to a larger mainstream audience — including food lovers here in the Bay Area. Toward that end, Freeman will host a screening and celebration of Lewis’ life — complete with snacks inspired by her recipes — at San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/museum-of-the-african-diaspora\">Museum of the African Diaspora\u003c/a> (MoAD) on March 2.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/F5Uof7u2qag'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/F5Uof7u2qag'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Lewis, of course, \u003ci>did \u003c/i>become a tremendously famous chef by the time she died in 2006. She has been hailed as the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/edna-lewis-the-mother-of-soul-food-180982117/\">mother of soul food\u003c/a>” and the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2006/02/18/5222253/the-life-and-legacy-of-southern-cook-edna-lewis\">first lady of Southern cooking\u003c/a>.” For many home cooks, her recipes for biscuits, dinner rolls and pan-fried chicken are canon. She even has her own \u003ca href=\"https://postalmuseum.si.edu/object/npm_2014.2032.1\">postage stamp\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in Freeman’s view, Miss Lewis — as everyone called her — is still strangely under-recognized. Many food enthusiasts only have a broad notion of her as a famous Southern chef, if they’ve even heard of her at all. “When I think about the culinary pantheon, unfortunately to most of America, Edna Lewis is not on that monument,” Freeman says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so, during a podcast interview two years ago, Freeman wondered aloud, “Where is the documentary on Edna Lewis’ life? Where is the sort of HBO prestige series that Julia Child has?” As it turns out, documentary filmmakers \u003ca href=\"https://www.fieldstudiofilms.com/about\">Hannah Ayers and Lance Warren\u003c/a> heard the interview and reached out to Freeman to collaborate on exactly that — what eventually became \u003ci>Finding Edna Lewis\u003c/i>, which aired last year as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.vpm.org/finding-edna-lewis\">six-part web series\u003c/a> through Virginia Public Media. Now, Freeman and her team have turned the series into a more polished hour-long documentary that includes breathtaking, newly digitized \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/12/25/nx-s1-5231813/listen-in-on-a-conversation-with-author-and-chef-edna-lewis\">recordings of Lewis’ voice\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the documentary, Freeman retraces the steps of Lewis’ journey, first traveling to Freetown to explore her upbringing in this tiny rural community that was established by freed enslaved people. “It was like one big family,” we hear Lewis say. “I always felt loved and unafraid because everybody was your parent. Everybody loved you. I’ve never lived in a community like that since.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From there, Freeman heads to New York, where a 16-year-old Lewis moved during the Great Migration and made a name for herself, first as a seamstress and then as the chef at Café Nicholson, on the East Side of Manhattan, which became a gathering place for literary figures like Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal and Truman Capote (who’d duck his head in the kitchen and ask Lewis to make him some fried chicken). She travels to South Carolina, where Lewis spent three years working as the chef-in-residence at a former plantation, and then back up to Brooklyn, where she became the executive chef at a grand old chop house called Gage & Tollner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972089\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972089\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A chef in an apron reading a cookbook.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Deb-and-chef-Mashama-Bailey-The-Grey-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In the kitchen with chef Mashama Bailey (right) of The Grey, an upscale Southern restaurant in Savannah, Georgia. Bailey is one of many chefs inspired by Lewis who are interviewed in the documentary. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Field Studio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In retracing each stage of the chef’s life, Freeman interviews chefs, writers and food historians who’ve drawn inspiration from Lewis’ life and her approach to cooking. According to Freeman, one of the biggest points she wanted to highlight was how Lewis brought Black Southern foodways — and Virginia’s foodways, in particular — to national prominence, and how that really shaped the way the whole country eats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you think of Southern food, you think of the greatest hits. You think of fried chicken and mac and cheese — these really heavy, decadent staples,” Freeman says. “But I think that [Lewis’] cookbook highlighted that seasonality is really what drives Southern cooking, and a lot of it is vegetable-based.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Here in the Bay Area, especially, it’s practically seen as gospel truth that Alice Waters and Chez Panisse were the ones who first popularized what we now know as farm-to-table dining in the 1970s. But \u003ci>Finding Edna Lewis \u003c/i>convincingly argues that Lewis was preaching this simple, seasonal approach to cooking up and down the East Coast several decades earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve seen an interview where Alice Waters gives Edna Lewis credit, but you don’t hear about that,” Freeman says. “Farm-to-table is a huge part of our vernacular at this point, and so I do think you’ve got to give credit where credit is due.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond the recipes themselves, Freeman also believes there’s power in examining — and celebrating — Lewis’ remarkable life, which also included stints as a typist for the Communist Party and as a pheasant farmer. And even though she endured plenty of hardship living through Jim Crow, Lewis also “lived a beautiful, idyllic life,” Virginia chef Leah Branch says in the documentary. “For Black people, it doesn’t have to be all rising up from the ashes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or, as culinary historian Leni Sorensen says toward the end of the film, about Lewis’ career in food, “It didn’t save the planet. It didn’t stop segregation. It didn’t stop lynching. [Lewis isn’t] saying any of that. She’s saying, ‘In this little place, for this little time, we had this. And it was beautiful.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those in the Bay Area who want to learn more about Lewis’ beautiful, history-making life, Freeman will join MoAD chef-in-residence Jocelyn Jackson and the author and food activist Bryant Terry for an afternoon screening and discussion of \u003ci>Finding Edna Lewis \u003c/i>on March 2. Of course, no Edna Lewis event would be complete without a spread of delicious food — in this case supplied by Fernay McPherson \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13956178/minnie-bells-soul-food-restaurant-fillmore-sf-opening\">of Minnie Bell’s\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>MoAD’s (685 Mission St., San Francisco) \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.moadsf.org/event/moad-chef-in-residence-jocelyn-jackson-presents-finding-edna-lewis\">Finding Edna Lewis\u003ci> event\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is on Sunday, March 2, from 1–4 p.m. — tickets are $5 plus museum admission. The \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/show/finding-edna-lewis/\">\u003ci>full documentary\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is available to stream now on PBS.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13969095\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13969095\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men devour several plates of soul food: gumbo, a fried seafood platter, smothered pork chops.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nella’s Place has a quiet, down-home elegance. The San Leandro soul food spot also serves some of the Bay Area’s tastiest gumbo. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walking into \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/nellasplace1/\">Nella’s Place\u003c/a>, a soul food restaurant on a quiet corner in San Leandro, feels like stepping into the living room of a particularly stylish auntie. The color scheme is all silver and white: bedazzled vases, three-ring chandeliers, curtains and tablecloths. Some of it is brand new with the tags still on, like you’re at a furniture showroom. The speakers play a steady stream of smooth R&B slow jams from the 1970s — deep cuts from the likes of Rose Royce and The Stylistics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All in all, the place has a quiet, down-home, distinctly grown-up kind of elegance. Oh, and also: There’s a pot of gumbo simmering on the stove, and you swear it smells better than anything you’ve smelled before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had driven down to Nella’s — which until recently went by “Sistas Soul Food Kafe” — late on a Friday night expressly because we were in the mood for soul food. The restaurant is open until 10 p.m. and does its last call at 9:30 (we made it just in time) — so it’s pushing up against the border of what might rightfully be categorized as a late-night food spot. Then again, with so many Bay Area soul food spots turning their lights out by 8 o’clock, the ability to get a hold of a plate of smothered turkey wings after 9 felt downright miraculous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the night of our visit, there was a steady stream of takeout customers all the way up until closing time. Almost all of them were older Black men, in their 60s or 70s, stopping in by themselves to pick up a late dinner — in my experience, a sure sign that the food was going to be a hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13969099\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13969099\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Exterior of a restaurant at night. The sign reads, "Nella's Place" in ornate lettering.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The restaurant is located on a quiet corner in San Leandro. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It certainly didn’t disappoint. Start with the restaurant’s signature gumbo, which even in its smaller “lunch”-size portion came in an enormous bowl filled to the brim with andouille sausage, chicken slow-simmered long enough that even the bones had nearly disintegrated, and a big, generous pile of crab legs. And the broth! It was dark and smoky, savory and briny like the sea. I don’t want to say it was the best gumbo I’ve ever eaten in the Bay, but it’s hard for me to recall a better version. We licked the bowl clean even though we knew it meant we’d never finish all the other food we’d ordered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And what a spread it was. There were pork chops smothered in a thick, savory gravy, the meat still tender and juicy after being batter-fried — on the saltier side, but delicious over white rice. (The owner also brought over a sample of her turkey chops — the breast sliced into thick “chops” and prepared the same way — and we liked those even better.) There was a sublimely oozy version of mac and cheese, made with the big, extra-wide elbows and spiked with jalapeños. There was even crisp stir-fried cabbage — a refreshing vegetable addition to an otherwise heavy meal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13968142,arts_13953702,arts_13952384']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Of course we had to try the fried fish too, and the basa was top-tier, light and crisp without a hint of extra grease. It went especially well with Nella’s potato salad, which had been blended until it was smooth and airy-light, almost like whipped potatoes, with that bright, classic Southern flavor profile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At that point, we didn’t really have room for dessert, but it was hard to resist the charms of the banana pudding cake, which was phenomenal — moist and not too sweet, and studded with soft Nilla Wafers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We were properly stuffed, then, with a big clamshell container of leftovers under each arm, when we stumbled out into the night, the smell of gumbo and pork gravy on our breaths. We listened to the voices of the old men busting each other’s chops inside the Black barbershop next door and made plans to come back soon — even if it was just for a slice of cake.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://nellasplace.com/\">\u003ci>Nella’s Place\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Wednesday through Sunday 5 –10 p.m. at 571 Bancroft Ave. in San Leandro. Last call for food orders is at 9:30.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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The San Leandro soul food spot also serves some of the Bay Area’s tastiest gumbo. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walking into \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/nellasplace1/\">Nella’s Place\u003c/a>, a soul food restaurant on a quiet corner in San Leandro, feels like stepping into the living room of a particularly stylish auntie. The color scheme is all silver and white: bedazzled vases, three-ring chandeliers, curtains and tablecloths. Some of it is brand new with the tags still on, like you’re at a furniture showroom. The speakers play a steady stream of smooth R&B slow jams from the 1970s — deep cuts from the likes of Rose Royce and The Stylistics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All in all, the place has a quiet, down-home, distinctly grown-up kind of elegance. Oh, and also: There’s a pot of gumbo simmering on the stove, and you swear it smells better than anything you’ve smelled before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had driven down to Nella’s — which until recently went by “Sistas Soul Food Kafe” — late on a Friday night expressly because we were in the mood for soul food. The restaurant is open until 10 p.m. and does its last call at 9:30 (we made it just in time) — so it’s pushing up against the border of what might rightfully be categorized as a late-night food spot. Then again, with so many Bay Area soul food spots turning their lights out by 8 o’clock, the ability to get a hold of a plate of smothered turkey wings after 9 felt downright miraculous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the night of our visit, there was a steady stream of takeout customers all the way up until closing time. Almost all of them were older Black men, in their 60s or 70s, stopping in by themselves to pick up a late dinner — in my experience, a sure sign that the food was going to be a hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13969099\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13969099\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Exterior of a restaurant at night. The sign reads, "Nella's Place" in ornate lettering.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The restaurant is located on a quiet corner in San Leandro. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It certainly didn’t disappoint. 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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And what a spread it was. There were pork chops smothered in a thick, savory gravy, the meat still tender and juicy after being batter-fried — on the saltier side, but delicious over white rice. (The owner also brought over a sample of her turkey chops — the breast sliced into thick “chops” and prepared the same way — and we liked those even better.) There was a sublimely oozy version of mac and cheese, made with the big, extra-wide elbows and spiked with jalapeños. There was even crisp stir-fried cabbage — a refreshing vegetable addition to an otherwise heavy meal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Of course we had to try the fried fish too, and the basa was top-tier, light and crisp without a hint of extra grease. It went especially well with Nella’s potato salad, which had been blended until it was smooth and airy-light, almost like whipped potatoes, with that bright, classic Southern flavor profile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At that point, we didn’t really have room for dessert, but it was hard to resist the charms of the banana pudding cake, which was phenomenal — moist and not too sweet, and studded with soft Nilla Wafers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We were properly stuffed, then, with a big clamshell container of leftovers under each arm, when we stumbled out into the night, the smell of gumbo and pork gravy on our breaths. We listened to the voices of the old men busting each other’s chops inside the Black barbershop next door and made plans to come back soon — even if it was just for a slice of cake.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://nellasplace.com/\">\u003ci>Nella’s Place\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Wednesday through Sunday 5 –10 p.m. at 571 Bancroft Ave. in San Leandro. Last call for food orders is at 9:30.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Long before Netflix released \u003ci>High on the Hog\u003c/i>, its award-winning food docu-series based on Dr. Jessica B. Harris’ book of the same name, Harris herself was already a living legend. Food historian, author of a dozen classic cookbooks and unofficial poet laureate of \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/strongblacklead/status/1400544874047307776?lang=en\">yams\u003c/a>, okra and black-eyed peas, Harris literally wrote the book on how diasporic African foodways shaped America. When the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture was planning its new cafeteria a few years back, Harris was the one the museum tapped to \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/dining/african-american-museum-sweet-home-cafe.html\">help conceptualize the menu\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13956501\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1707px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13956501\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Headshot of an African American woman in glasses seated inside an elegant restaurant.\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-scaled.jpg 1707w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-1020x1529.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-1366x2048.jpg 1366w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Jessica B. Harris is this year’s featured speaker. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Dr. Jessica B. Harris)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And so, when San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora had to pick a featured speaker for this year’s splashy “\u003ca href=\"https://www.moadsf.org/event/diaspora-dinner-2024\">Diaspora Dinner\u003c/a>,” the museum’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930013/moad-diaspora-dinner-bay-area-black-women-chefs-intergenerational-sf-bayview\">signature fundraising event\u003c/a>, inviting Harris was a no-brainer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Saturday, May 4, Harris will take the stage at MoAD for a conversation about the history of diasporic African food, moderated by chef Adrian Lipscombe. The talk will be the highlight of a blowout dinner featuring dishes from Harris’s cookbooks — all cooked under the supervision of MoAD chef-in-residence \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13923936/moad-new-chef-in-residence-jocelyn-jackson-peoples-kitchen-collective\">Jocelyn Jackson\u003c/a>, who calls Harris “an incredible icon” to the Black community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Harris, one of the main reasons she decided to write \u003ci>High on the Hog\u003c/i> in the first place was because in her cookbooks, “the headnotes for the recipes kept getting longer and longer, which indicated that there was more to be said.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She has seen a late-career revival after producers Fabienne Toback and Karis Jagger optioned the \u003ci>High on the Hog\u003c/i> for Netflix\u003ci>, \u003c/i>introducing her work to a new generation. Like the book that inspired it, the show (which recently released a second season) takes viewers on a journey from the open-air markets of Benin, in West Africa, to the rice fields of South Carolina, the barbecue pits of Texas and beyond. It’s a culinary history that’s intertwined with the suffering that enslaved Africans faced — but also their resilience and ingenuity in maintaining their connection to Africa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13923936,arts_13930013']The menu for MoAD’s Diaspora Dinner will also reflect that journey. While Jackson is keeping most of it a secret, she says one dish she plans to serve is acaraje, a Brazilian black-eyed pea fritter that’s usually stuffed with smoked shellfish and fried in palm oil. As Harris notes, it’s a dish that traces its roots back to southwestern Nigeria, where they eat a white bean fritter called akara.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The bean has changed, but the oil remains red palm oil,” Harris explains. “There’s a lot of history in that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, Harris’s vision of the future of food and community for the African diaspora is refreshingly hopeful. She sees young, Black fine-dining chefs using their training to find new ways to connect to their cultures, and she says, “Change is the most wonderful thing about food.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13956503\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13956503\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/2023-6-7_Diaspora-Dinner-38_Tinashe-Chidarikire-courtesy-of-MoAD.jpg\" alt=\"Fried plantains topped with pumpkin seeds.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/2023-6-7_Diaspora-Dinner-38_Tinashe-Chidarikire-courtesy-of-MoAD.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/2023-6-7_Diaspora-Dinner-38_Tinashe-Chidarikire-courtesy-of-MoAD-800x500.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/2023-6-7_Diaspora-Dinner-38_Tinashe-Chidarikire-courtesy-of-MoAD-1020x638.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/2023-6-7_Diaspora-Dinner-38_Tinashe-Chidarikire-courtesy-of-MoAD-160x100.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/2023-6-7_Diaspora-Dinner-38_Tinashe-Chidarikire-courtesy-of-MoAD-768x480.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/2023-6-7_Diaspora-Dinner-38_Tinashe-Chidarikire-courtesy-of-MoAD-1536x960.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A dish of fried plantains from last year’s Diaspora Dinner. \u003ccite>(Tinashe Chidarikire, courtesy of MoAD)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even as she acknowledges the way that a city like San Francisco has seen a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11952984/reparations-commentary\">tremendous exodus\u003c/a> of its Black population, Harris urges us to take an even broader view: “Yes, it’s displacement — but it is such a slim displacement in proportion to the ultimate displacement, which was the one from the African continent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will find ways to come together,” she says. “The communing of sitting at or around a table is cardinal to our existence — I think that is not going to be diminished. It may evolve, but it’s there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>MoAD’s annual \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.moadsf.org/event/diaspora-dinner-2024\">\u003ci>Diaspora Dinner\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> will take place at the museum (685 Mission St., San Francisco) and the adjacent St. Regis Hotel on Saturday, May 4, from 6–9 p.m. General admission tickets are sold out at this time, but a handful of VIP tickets, which include a private meet-and-greet, are still available.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Long before Netflix released \u003ci>High on the Hog\u003c/i>, its award-winning food docu-series based on Dr. Jessica B. Harris’ book of the same name, Harris herself was already a living legend. Food historian, author of a dozen classic cookbooks and unofficial poet laureate of \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/strongblacklead/status/1400544874047307776?lang=en\">yams\u003c/a>, okra and black-eyed peas, Harris literally wrote the book on how diasporic African foodways shaped America. When the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture was planning its new cafeteria a few years back, Harris was the one the museum tapped to \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/dining/african-american-museum-sweet-home-cafe.html\">help conceptualize the menu\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13956501\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1707px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13956501\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Headshot of an African American woman in glasses seated inside an elegant restaurant.\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-scaled.jpg 1707w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-1020x1529.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/DrHarris-headshot-1366x2048.jpg 1366w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Jessica B. Harris is this year’s featured speaker. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Dr. Jessica B. Harris)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And so, when San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora had to pick a featured speaker for this year’s splashy “\u003ca href=\"https://www.moadsf.org/event/diaspora-dinner-2024\">Diaspora Dinner\u003c/a>,” the museum’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930013/moad-diaspora-dinner-bay-area-black-women-chefs-intergenerational-sf-bayview\">signature fundraising event\u003c/a>, inviting Harris was a no-brainer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Saturday, May 4, Harris will take the stage at MoAD for a conversation about the history of diasporic African food, moderated by chef Adrian Lipscombe. The talk will be the highlight of a blowout dinner featuring dishes from Harris’s cookbooks — all cooked under the supervision of MoAD chef-in-residence \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13923936/moad-new-chef-in-residence-jocelyn-jackson-peoples-kitchen-collective\">Jocelyn Jackson\u003c/a>, who calls Harris “an incredible icon” to the Black community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Harris, one of the main reasons she decided to write \u003ci>High on the Hog\u003c/i> in the first place was because in her cookbooks, “the headnotes for the recipes kept getting longer and longer, which indicated that there was more to be said.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She has seen a late-career revival after producers Fabienne Toback and Karis Jagger optioned the \u003ci>High on the Hog\u003c/i> for Netflix\u003ci>, \u003c/i>introducing her work to a new generation. Like the book that inspired it, the show (which recently released a second season) takes viewers on a journey from the open-air markets of Benin, in West Africa, to the rice fields of South Carolina, the barbecue pits of Texas and beyond. It’s a culinary history that’s intertwined with the suffering that enslaved Africans faced — but also their resilience and ingenuity in maintaining their connection to Africa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The menu for MoAD’s Diaspora Dinner will also reflect that journey. While Jackson is keeping most of it a secret, she says one dish she plans to serve is acaraje, a Brazilian black-eyed pea fritter that’s usually stuffed with smoked shellfish and fried in palm oil. As Harris notes, it’s a dish that traces its roots back to southwestern Nigeria, where they eat a white bean fritter called akara.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The bean has changed, but the oil remains red palm oil,” Harris explains. “There’s a lot of history in that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, Harris’s vision of the future of food and community for the African diaspora is refreshingly hopeful. She sees young, Black fine-dining chefs using their training to find new ways to connect to their cultures, and she says, “Change is the most wonderful thing about food.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13956503\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13956503\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/2023-6-7_Diaspora-Dinner-38_Tinashe-Chidarikire-courtesy-of-MoAD.jpg\" alt=\"Fried plantains topped with pumpkin seeds.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/2023-6-7_Diaspora-Dinner-38_Tinashe-Chidarikire-courtesy-of-MoAD.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/2023-6-7_Diaspora-Dinner-38_Tinashe-Chidarikire-courtesy-of-MoAD-800x500.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/2023-6-7_Diaspora-Dinner-38_Tinashe-Chidarikire-courtesy-of-MoAD-1020x638.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/2023-6-7_Diaspora-Dinner-38_Tinashe-Chidarikire-courtesy-of-MoAD-160x100.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/2023-6-7_Diaspora-Dinner-38_Tinashe-Chidarikire-courtesy-of-MoAD-768x480.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/2023-6-7_Diaspora-Dinner-38_Tinashe-Chidarikire-courtesy-of-MoAD-1536x960.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A dish of fried plantains from last year’s Diaspora Dinner. \u003ccite>(Tinashe Chidarikire, courtesy of MoAD)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even as she acknowledges the way that a city like San Francisco has seen a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11952984/reparations-commentary\">tremendous exodus\u003c/a> of its Black population, Harris urges us to take an even broader view: “Yes, it’s displacement — but it is such a slim displacement in proportion to the ultimate displacement, which was the one from the African continent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will find ways to come together,” she says. “The communing of sitting at or around a table is cardinal to our existence — I think that is not going to be diminished. It may evolve, but it’s there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>MoAD’s annual \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.moadsf.org/event/diaspora-dinner-2024\">\u003ci>Diaspora Dinner\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> will take place at the museum (685 Mission St., San Francisco) and the adjacent St. Regis Hotel on Saturday, May 4, from 6–9 p.m. General admission tickets are sold out at this time, but a handful of VIP tickets, which include a private meet-and-greet, are still available.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Minnie Bell’s New Soul Food Restaurant in the Fillmore Is a Homecoming",
"headTitle": "Minnie Bell’s New Soul Food Restaurant in the Fillmore Is a Homecoming | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Chef Fernay McPherson has been serving her take on Southern comfort foods, like crispy rosemary fried chicken and apparently the Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/an-ode-to-minnie-bell-s-gooey-mac-and-cheese-16012173.php\">best mac and cheese\u003c/a>, at her stall at The Public Market Food Hall in Emeryville since 2018. But she has long \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11800814/a-black-chefs-dream-of-returning-to-the-fillmore\">dreamed\u003c/a> of running a restaurant in her hometown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My quest was to find a space in San Francisco and preferably in the Fillmore,” McPherson says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She grew up in that neighborhood, once known as the “Harlem of the West,” which used to be full of Black-owned businesses. But \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825401/how-urban-renewal-decimated-the-fillmore-district-and-took-jazz-with-it\">urban renewal\u003c/a> efforts from the 1950s through the 1970s forced tens of thousands of families to leave, and most businesses shut down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>WATCH KQED’s 1999 documentary on the history of Fillmore:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8h2meDtdm8\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few have remained, and in recent years, a citywide effort — the Dream Keeper Initiative — is trying to revitalize the area and help bring back Black-owned businesses, like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11954111/longtime-fillmore-resident-hopes-to-restore-commerce-with-black-led-marketplace\">In The Black\u003c/a>, a shared retail space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13900855,arts_13916044,arts_13874853']\u003c/span>\u003c/strong>\u003c/b>\u003c/span>The program helped make it possible for McPherson to realize her dream. On Friday, she’ll welcome the public to dine at Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement — a stand-alone brick-and-mortar version of the East Bay stall, featuring a similar menu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want to be able to educate people who may not know what was here before,” says McPherson, wearing a blue-gray apron and a graphic T-shirt emblazoned with a photo of Whitney Houston, from inside the 40-seat establishment in the heart of the Fillmore District. “Share those stories that my dad, my aunt share with me about how rich this was and be able to represent the culture and look forward to seeing more of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For her, food is personal, and the restaurant pays homage to her family history. One wall is decorated with a large mural of a photo of Fillmore Street in its heyday in the 1960s. Another wall has two large-scale photographs of her biggest inspirations — her grandma Lillie Bell and her great-aunt Minnie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13956186\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13956186\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A fresh batch of fried chicken is pulled out of the deep fryer.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pulling a fresh batch of rosemary fried chicken out of the fryer. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I picked these photos because I wanted a photo of them in their youth, like my aunt has on her cap and gown. She was graduating high school. My grandmother was about 21 and it was a professional portrait,” she says. “I just think they look so beautiful, and when I look up at these pictures, it just gives me all the strength that I need to get through my day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McPherson talked more about how important the past has been toward shaping her present with KQED’s Adhiti Bandlamudi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Adhiti Bandlamudi: Tell me more about your grandma and great aunt. How did their story manifest when it came to creating a menu and thinking about what experience you wanted to give at Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Fernay McPherson:\u003c/b> While I may add a little twist to it, everything that I cook is food that I grew up eating. Before my family left Texas in the 1960s, my grandma made the chicken and pound cake for their journey into San Francisco. So we have that pound cake that she made — but [with] the addition of the caramel. I make it the same way that she taught me to make it. It was one of the cakes that everyone in the family wanted for their birthday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have fried chicken, which is the highlight of what we do, [and] the addition of the rosemary, is very San Francisco with so many rosemary bushes here. So those two married together — the flavors that migrated during the Great Migration with the fried chicken and then the freshness of the rosemary in the city, where I was born and raised. It’s like a perfect blend of Chef Fernay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>It almost seems like your approach to soul food is tradition with a little twist.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exactly! It’s tradition with a little twist. But the twists are not so much that it doesn’t display a homestyle comfort meal. That was so important for me, for people to eat the food and feel the comfort of home. In Emeryville, people would come and say, “Well, I’m from the South, so I’ll let you know how it tastes.” And I’m like, “Okay, that’s cool.” I know how it tastes [too], you know? But they would always come back and say, “That was so good, that really reminds me of home.” That is definitely the experience that I want people to get. Not too much of a twist, but the perfect twist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13956187\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13956187\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A chef picks fresh rosemary leaves.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">McPherson prepares rosemary alongside Mundo Pérez at her new Fillmore restaurant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve been operating out of Emeryville since 2018, and now you’re getting ready to open up in San Francisco. You’ve wanted this for so long. What’s going through your mind right now?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a surreal experience. [To] be in the Fillmore, the community where I was born and raised, but also in a neighborhood that was rich in African-American culture, ownership, businesses, jazz clubs, just means so much, because I want to be able to represent a bygone era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I am third generation. My aunt and dad talk about the history of the neighborhood. Then, I have my own history. So it’s three layers to what that history used to be. And by the time I was a teenager and walking around these streets, it was minimal Black businesses; whereas now, it’s almost nonexistent. So being a part of that revitalization is important, so that we can learn about the culture and know what used to be here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Are any of your relatives, like Aunt Minnie, coming to the restaurant’s grand opening? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have a private grand opening party on Thursday, when my Aunt Minnie will see her face on this wall for the first time. My parents, they’re still in the neighborhood. My aunt lives with them, so they’ll all be here. My brothers will be here. My children will be here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13956189\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13956189\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A paper-lined basket of fried chicken on a countertop.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">McPherson’s famous rosemary fried chicken, ready to be eaten. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What do you plan to serve to Aunt Minnie ?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For her, I will do candied yams, fried chicken, cornbread and greens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How might she respond? Are you ready for her critique?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She critiques it all the time! She tells me all the time you’re getting better and better. She has the food often. So when she comes in, it won’t be anything new. It just has to be right. Because if it’s not, she will let me know. But when she tells me, “This was delicious,” that’s all the validation I need.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.minniebellssoul.com/\">\u003ci>Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is located at 1375 Fillmore St. in San Francisco.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Chef Fernay McPherson has been serving her take on Southern comfort foods, like crispy rosemary fried chicken and apparently the Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/an-ode-to-minnie-bell-s-gooey-mac-and-cheese-16012173.php\">best mac and cheese\u003c/a>, at her stall at The Public Market Food Hall in Emeryville since 2018. But she has long \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11800814/a-black-chefs-dream-of-returning-to-the-fillmore\">dreamed\u003c/a> of running a restaurant in her hometown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My quest was to find a space in San Francisco and preferably in the Fillmore,” McPherson says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She grew up in that neighborhood, once known as the “Harlem of the West,” which used to be full of Black-owned businesses. But \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825401/how-urban-renewal-decimated-the-fillmore-district-and-took-jazz-with-it\">urban renewal\u003c/a> efforts from the 1950s through the 1970s forced tens of thousands of families to leave, and most businesses shut down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>WATCH KQED’s 1999 documentary on the history of Fillmore:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/a8h2meDtdm8'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/a8h2meDtdm8'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few have remained, and in recent years, a citywide effort — the Dream Keeper Initiative — is trying to revitalize the area and help bring back Black-owned businesses, like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11954111/longtime-fillmore-resident-hopes-to-restore-commerce-with-black-led-marketplace\">In The Black\u003c/a>, a shared retail space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/strong>\u003c/b>\u003c/span>The program helped make it possible for McPherson to realize her dream. On Friday, she’ll welcome the public to dine at Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement — a stand-alone brick-and-mortar version of the East Bay stall, featuring a similar menu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want to be able to educate people who may not know what was here before,” says McPherson, wearing a blue-gray apron and a graphic T-shirt emblazoned with a photo of Whitney Houston, from inside the 40-seat establishment in the heart of the Fillmore District. “Share those stories that my dad, my aunt share with me about how rich this was and be able to represent the culture and look forward to seeing more of it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For her, food is personal, and the restaurant pays homage to her family history. One wall is decorated with a large mural of a photo of Fillmore Street in its heyday in the 1960s. Another wall has two large-scale photographs of her biggest inspirations — her grandma Lillie Bell and her great-aunt Minnie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13956186\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13956186\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A fresh batch of fried chicken is pulled out of the deep fryer.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-31-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pulling a fresh batch of rosemary fried chicken out of the fryer. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I picked these photos because I wanted a photo of them in their youth, like my aunt has on her cap and gown. She was graduating high school. My grandmother was about 21 and it was a professional portrait,” she says. “I just think they look so beautiful, and when I look up at these pictures, it just gives me all the strength that I need to get through my day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McPherson talked more about how important the past has been toward shaping her present with KQED’s Adhiti Bandlamudi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Adhiti Bandlamudi: Tell me more about your grandma and great aunt. How did their story manifest when it came to creating a menu and thinking about what experience you wanted to give at Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Fernay McPherson:\u003c/b> While I may add a little twist to it, everything that I cook is food that I grew up eating. Before my family left Texas in the 1960s, my grandma made the chicken and pound cake for their journey into San Francisco. So we have that pound cake that she made — but [with] the addition of the caramel. I make it the same way that she taught me to make it. It was one of the cakes that everyone in the family wanted for their birthday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have fried chicken, which is the highlight of what we do, [and] the addition of the rosemary, is very San Francisco with so many rosemary bushes here. So those two married together — the flavors that migrated during the Great Migration with the fried chicken and then the freshness of the rosemary in the city, where I was born and raised. It’s like a perfect blend of Chef Fernay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>It almost seems like your approach to soul food is tradition with a little twist.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exactly! It’s tradition with a little twist. But the twists are not so much that it doesn’t display a homestyle comfort meal. That was so important for me, for people to eat the food and feel the comfort of home. In Emeryville, people would come and say, “Well, I’m from the South, so I’ll let you know how it tastes.” And I’m like, “Okay, that’s cool.” I know how it tastes [too], you know? But they would always come back and say, “That was so good, that really reminds me of home.” That is definitely the experience that I want people to get. Not too much of a twist, but the perfect twist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13956187\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13956187\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A chef picks fresh rosemary leaves.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-35-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">McPherson prepares rosemary alongside Mundo Pérez at her new Fillmore restaurant. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve been operating out of Emeryville since 2018, and now you’re getting ready to open up in San Francisco. You’ve wanted this for so long. What’s going through your mind right now?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a surreal experience. [To] be in the Fillmore, the community where I was born and raised, but also in a neighborhood that was rich in African-American culture, ownership, businesses, jazz clubs, just means so much, because I want to be able to represent a bygone era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I am third generation. My aunt and dad talk about the history of the neighborhood. Then, I have my own history. So it’s three layers to what that history used to be. And by the time I was a teenager and walking around these streets, it was minimal Black businesses; whereas now, it’s almost nonexistent. So being a part of that revitalization is important, so that we can learn about the culture and know what used to be here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Are any of your relatives, like Aunt Minnie, coming to the restaurant’s grand opening? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We have a private grand opening party on Thursday, when my Aunt Minnie will see her face on this wall for the first time. My parents, they’re still in the neighborhood. My aunt lives with them, so they’ll all be here. My brothers will be here. My children will be here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13956189\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13956189\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A paper-lined basket of fried chicken on a countertop.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/240416-MINNIESSOULFOOD-47-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">McPherson’s famous rosemary fried chicken, ready to be eaten. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What do you plan to serve to Aunt Minnie ?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For her, I will do candied yams, fried chicken, cornbread and greens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How might she respond? Are you ready for her critique?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She critiques it all the time! She tells me all the time you’re getting better and better. She has the food often. So when she comes in, it won’t be anything new. It just has to be right. Because if it’s not, she will let me know. But when she tells me, “This was delicious,” that’s all the validation I need.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.minniebellssoul.com/\">\u003ci>Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is located at 1375 Fillmore St. in San Francisco.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "New Flavors, New Beginnings at La Cocina's Holiday Market",
"headTitle": "New Flavors, New Beginnings at La Cocina’s Holiday Market | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Tiffany Carter’s journey started on the literal streets of San Francisco. Having grown up in Bayview, she began slinging gumbo in jars out of the trunk of her Honda Civic when she was in her early 20s. From Lakeview to Fillmore, she’d serve up customers who ordered by calling, texting, or finding her on Facebook.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since joining the Mission-based, woman-owned incubator La Cocina in 2018, the 40-year-old chef and mother has been able to expand her soul-food business, \u003ca href=\"https://bougcali.com/\">Boug Cali\u003c/a>. After initially operating out of her mom’s tiny, outdated Bayview kitchen, Carter now serves her dishes at Chase Center. She also has a stall at La Cocina’s Municipal Market, the first food hall in the country led by mothers, and even employs her own daughter, a 22-year-old graduate of San Jose State University, in a part-time role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the sort of hustle that Carter’s proud of as a born-and-raised San Franciscan—and one that embodies La Cocina’s larger mission. “I hope that I am a symbol of hope for other mothers, entrepreneurs, Black women, and minorities,” she tells KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13922401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/LaCocinaHolidayOverview-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13922401\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/LaCocinaHolidayOverview-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/LaCocinaHolidayOverview-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/LaCocinaHolidayOverview-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/LaCocinaHolidayOverview-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/LaCocinaHolidayOverview-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/LaCocinaHolidayOverview.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A scene from 2021’s holiday market at La Cocina’s Municipal Marketplace in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Erin Ng)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That dedication will be on full display at La Cocina’s Holiday Market fundraiser on Saturday, Dec. 10, featuring Boug Cali alongside six other businesses. A trademark variety of authentic foods, drinks, cultures and crafts will be served at La Cocina’s indoor space in the Tenderloin; highlights include Los Cilantro’s pozole rojo—the traditional Mexican red chile broth with pork and hominy—and Kayma’s coca, an Algerian puff pastry filled with simmered ground beef, onions, and tomatoes. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really want highly motivated individuals with a vibrant spirit and a food product that isn’t only unique, but an extension of themselves,” says La Cocina’s Michelle Magat, about the businesses they work to support. “Tiffany is that. [Her business is] a reflection of her life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside link1='https://youtu.be/YKboUhMQwC4,Watch: Exploring the First Women-Led Food Hall in the Country' hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/TiffanyCarter.Cecilia.jpg' heroURL='https://youtu.be/YKboUhMQwC4']At this year’s Holiday Market, Carter will serve her signature plates of West Coast-influenced soul food—such as California-style crispy tacos (Creole-seasoned ground beef served on a fried corn tortilla with red beans as a side), chicken and andouille sausage gumbo (made from her Alabama family’s recipe, with the option of blackened Bay lobster), and the Bonfire wrap (a choice of jerk chicken, crispy shrimp or crispy avocado with Baja sauce, pico de gallo, jalapeños, Jack cheese and mixed greens rolled into a flour tortilla).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, the Market will welcome an array of holiday craft vendors, as well as Fluid Cooperative Cafe—a trans-owned and staffed coffee and pastry business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our organization is just a bridge for systemically undervalued and under resourced communities to reach their full power,” Magat says. “It’s a big risk to [start a new business in San Francisco]. It really is a journey. We’re in communication with them since day one. That’s how the world should work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>La Cocina’s Holiday Market takes place on Saturday, Dec. 10, from 11 a.m.–4 p.m. at the Municipal Marketplace in San Francisco. Admission is free; donations encouraged. \u003ca href=\"https://lacocinasf.org/holidaymarket22\">Details here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Tiffany Carter’s journey started on the literal streets of San Francisco. Having grown up in Bayview, she began slinging gumbo in jars out of the trunk of her Honda Civic when she was in her early 20s. From Lakeview to Fillmore, she’d serve up customers who ordered by calling, texting, or finding her on Facebook.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since joining the Mission-based, woman-owned incubator La Cocina in 2018, the 40-year-old chef and mother has been able to expand her soul-food business, \u003ca href=\"https://bougcali.com/\">Boug Cali\u003c/a>. After initially operating out of her mom’s tiny, outdated Bayview kitchen, Carter now serves her dishes at Chase Center. She also has a stall at La Cocina’s Municipal Market, the first food hall in the country led by mothers, and even employs her own daughter, a 22-year-old graduate of San Jose State University, in a part-time role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the sort of hustle that Carter’s proud of as a born-and-raised San Franciscan—and one that embodies La Cocina’s larger mission. “I hope that I am a symbol of hope for other mothers, entrepreneurs, Black women, and minorities,” she tells KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13922401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/LaCocinaHolidayOverview-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13922401\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/LaCocinaHolidayOverview-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/LaCocinaHolidayOverview-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/LaCocinaHolidayOverview-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/LaCocinaHolidayOverview-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/LaCocinaHolidayOverview-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/LaCocinaHolidayOverview.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A scene from 2021’s holiday market at La Cocina’s Municipal Marketplace in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Erin Ng)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That dedication will be on full display at La Cocina’s Holiday Market fundraiser on Saturday, Dec. 10, featuring Boug Cali alongside six other businesses. A trademark variety of authentic foods, drinks, cultures and crafts will be served at La Cocina’s indoor space in the Tenderloin; highlights include Los Cilantro’s pozole rojo—the traditional Mexican red chile broth with pork and hominy—and Kayma’s coca, an Algerian puff pastry filled with simmered ground beef, onions, and tomatoes. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really want highly motivated individuals with a vibrant spirit and a food product that isn’t only unique, but an extension of themselves,” says La Cocina’s Michelle Magat, about the businesses they work to support. “Tiffany is that. [Her business is] a reflection of her life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>At this year’s Holiday Market, Carter will serve her signature plates of West Coast-influenced soul food—such as California-style crispy tacos (Creole-seasoned ground beef served on a fried corn tortilla with red beans as a side), chicken and andouille sausage gumbo (made from her Alabama family’s recipe, with the option of blackened Bay lobster), and the Bonfire wrap (a choice of jerk chicken, crispy shrimp or crispy avocado with Baja sauce, pico de gallo, jalapeños, Jack cheese and mixed greens rolled into a flour tortilla).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, the Market will welcome an array of holiday craft vendors, as well as Fluid Cooperative Cafe—a trans-owned and staffed coffee and pastry business.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our organization is just a bridge for systemically undervalued and under resourced communities to reach their full power,” Magat says. “It’s a big risk to [start a new business in San Francisco]. It really is a journey. We’re in communication with them since day one. That’s how the world should work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>La Cocina’s Holiday Market takes place on Saturday, Dec. 10, from 11 a.m.–4 p.m. at the Municipal Marketplace in San Francisco. Admission is free; donations encouraged. \u003ca href=\"https://lacocinasf.org/holidaymarket22\">Details here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A Formerly Incarcerated Construction Worker Finds Freedom in the Kitchen",
"headTitle": "A Formerly Incarcerated Construction Worker Finds Freedom in the Kitchen | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[dropcap]E[/dropcap]very weekday, Jonathan Davis wakes up at 6am and heads into the yawn of morning light in his construction boots. As a full-time employee of WBE Traffic Control, he operates all over the East Bay, establishing safe zones for workers to repair power lines. It’s a systematized job, filled with rigid procedures, rules, and protocols that he and his coworkers abide by to maintain public safety.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Around 5pm he returns home to a three-year-old daughter who recently started preschool. He prepares dinner, watches \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Boys\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, then repeats his regiment the following day. It’s a churning livelihood that he embraces—even on Saturdays—in order to make ends meet, a prototypically American dedication to a grind that usually denies any form of extracurricular joy. The job isn’t glamorous, he tells me, but he’s grateful for it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s because working in construction provides the backbone of income that allows Davis to do what he actually loves the most: cooking for others. On Sundays, he busts out his favorite recipes and vends food from his home, using social media and word-of-mouth to feed his community, friends and neighbors around Oakland and beyond.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Cooking is like an artistic outlet for me,” says Davis, age 41. “I get to create things and I get to share that with my friends and family. When something doesn’t taste right, I get to improve it and make it better.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For years, Davis has been perfecting his favorite dishes. A proud Oaklander, he says he grew up with a deep appreciation of the Bay Area’s tapestry of Asian and Latinx flavors—a cultural richness that gave him the confidence to experiment with the soul food ingredients he and his family grew up eating, including shrimp and grits, salmon and fried chicken.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But he’s most known for his sandwiches—chopped cheese like you’d find in a Harlem bodega and whimsical creations like the “MacArthur Rib,” a play on the McDonald’s classic. The sandos have earned him a reputation around The Town and helped fuel a burgeoning catering business. They also inspired the chef’s nickname: \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jdthesandman/\">JD the Sandman\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yet, it wasn’t a culinary institute where Davis got his game from. And it wasn’t a Michelin-star restaurant that taught him the importance of fresh, diverse ingredients and food’s ability to connect people. It was elsewhere: behind the walls of the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Oregon.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cooking from Scratch Inside a Federal Correctional Institution\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Prison is a reality that many Californians know very little about. For those who haven’t had first-hand experience, it’s often a figment of imagination largely based on movies and television shows, where violence is typically the primary focus. Most people know even less about what happens when a person re-enters society after serving their time. Occasionally, an investigative project like “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facing.life/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Facing Life\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” (which KQED staff writer Pendarvis Harshaw co-authored) can illuminate the complexities of life after incarceration. Otherwise, it’s a taboo, and usually avoided, subject.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis was no different in the way he saw prison as something intangible in his own day-to-day life. A middle-class son of college graduates, he says his own incarceration is something he felt ashamed of, particularly as a Black man.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I invalidated my parent’s efforts, especially knowing the narratives of Black families,” Davis admits. “They were involved in our lives. My parents did all this work for us, and I still ended up in prison.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918519\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918519\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Jonathan Davis looks out from the balcony of his apartment next to the freeway\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jonathan Davis stands on the deck at his apartment. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A former educational nonprofit employee in Oakland, Davis never thought he’d end up behind bars. In late 2010, he lost his job due to a disagreement with the principal after a student was expelled. In Davis’s telling of it, the incident had to do with race—he was pushing back in defense of Black students. After losing his job, Davis started to hang out with a crowd of people who introduced him to “scamming.” In that moment of financial need, he saw it as a quick way to turn a profit. In his eyes, he was hustling a governmental system rather than taking from individuals. But the scheme came crashing down in 2013 when the IRS raided his home, guns drawn.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I was a halfway criminal and didn’t cross my t’s or dot my i’s,” he says. “At that point in life, my faith in myself was weaker.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis faced up to 20 years in prison, but was ultimately sentenced to 30 months. He wound up serving 18 of those months at federal institutions in Nevada and Oregon. As soon as he was convicted, he accepted his role in his wrongdoing and decided to move forward with his life by facing the consequences of his actions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\"]“It wasn’t a Michelin-star restaurant that taught [Davis] the importance of fresh, diverse ingredients and food’s ability to connect people. It was elsewhere: behind the walls of the Federal Correctional Institution.”[/pullquote]While imprisoned from 2014 to 2016, Davis’s good behavior landed him in a low-security environment, where he was given certain privileges. He joined a gardening program, frequently read about cooking and met people like \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/leasdef?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kasey Anderson, a Portland-based songwriter\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite a largely solitary prison experience, Davis discovered that food was a way for him to relate with others and represent his heritage. He began to cook for himself and his blockmates, including Anderson, who recognized his skills.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s tough to know who’s a good cook when you’re inside,” Anderson says. “Everyone’s all working with the same ingredients from commissary. You can see who is innovative and using flavors in ways others aren’t. JD would get creative with his food, and when he had a chance to work with [more ingredients], he could really express himself creatively through food. It’s cool to me that it became something for him that can exist outside. A lot of people do things inside to get by, but then go out and do what they need to go paycheck to paycheck. He isn’t limiting himself in that sense.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis explains how, at times, he had to get extra creative with the limited ingredients and lack of traditional cooking equipment available to him in prison.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There was a sweat lodge, and we cooked a piece of pork in there [one time],” he recalls. “[Another time] we made pizzas with tortillas and barbecue sauce. That was my idea. During my time, I just made friends with the kitchen guys, and that helped to keep my sanity.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Peanut butter was one of the most popular, versatile ingredients in prison—Davis recalls drawing inspiration from a peanut butter stew he’d once seen a Cameroonian immigrant whip up in his neighborhood, years prior. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite having almost no experience working inside a formal restaurant—though he’d once bartended at Kincaid’s in Jack London Square—Davis was naturally drawn to the freedom the kitchen provided. In an environment where authority and separation is enforced by armed guards and selfhood is under vigilant regulation, cooking for himself and his peers became a source of restorative connection. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918521\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918521\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"two guests holding plates of shrimps and grits in an apartment kitchen\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two guests enjoying grits and shrimp prepared by Davis in his home. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After being released, Davis was unable to get hired back into the nonprofit world. That’s when he started working in construction—since, as Davis puts it, nonprofits “prefer to hire non convicts.” He maintained his obsession with cooking, though, and applied a sense of redemption towards his Sunday cooking routine.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Food for me became about honoring my family,” he says. “About giving back whatever I could.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2020, when the pandemic hit, Davis joined Instagram and noticed an opportunity to share his food with a wider audience. He started by cooking dinner for family, friends and neighbors, who encouraged him to expand his menu and sell his dishes. Inspired by their suggestions and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907726/e-40-goon-with-the-spoon-bay-area-rappers-food-entrepreneurs-hustle\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the success of other homegrown, independent food entrepreneurs\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the Bay Area, Davis rolled up his sleeves and began to mess around more seriously with his side hustle. With each praised meal, he gained confidence, eventually introducing his first certified hit: the MacArthur Rib Sandwich.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A play on McDonald’s famously elusive McRib, Davis added his own touches by roasting “real meat” and incorporating better ingredients to deliver what would become a banger for his growing base of returning customers. He followed that up with an array of other in-demand sandwiches, including a cast-iron seared and baked salmon (Cajun spices, arugula, dill relish, mayo) and New York bodega-style chopped cheese (\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ground beef, American deli cheese, chopped tomatoes, mayo and ketchup mix, sweet jalapeño)\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis says the pandemic’s slowdown gave him an opportunity to reconnect with how much food means to him. Since then, he’s been sharing edible comfort with his folks.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The way I’m doing this now, I can be independent,” he says. “This cooking allows me to do something I want and I’m grateful for that. It’s a release.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Catering for the Public\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Markesha Brooks is a lifelong Oakland resident who works as the head chef at Grand Lake Gardens. In her spare time, she runs her catering business, MB Soul, serving up fire plates of soul food at softball games, Southland Mall and Lake Merritt.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After meeting Davis over a decade ago, the two friends remained in touch. When he returned to Oakland on probation and eventually started his series of informal food events, he and Brooks decided to work together to leverage their mutual interest in cooking. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“He’s a foodie, I’m a foodie. We’ve actually grown really close around food,” says Brooks. “He likes to pick restaurants in different cities. We go have specific dishes that those restaurants are known for. He’s eager to learn.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With 18 years of experience, Brooks has been an ideal “coach” for Davis, critiquing his methods and offering advice on how to make adjustments. Currently, she assists Davis as a de facto sous chef whenever Davis is hired for large functions. Though he started out selling sandwiches exclusively out of his Lower Dimond apartment off MacArthur Boulevard, Davis’s business has since expanded—occasionally taking him out to Fairfield, Vallejo and even Sacramento. Bringing Brooks into the mix has allowed him to offer a more robust range of services. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the past six months, he has been hired to privately cater multiple events, including weddings and large birthday parties of more than 60 people. Brooks helps him steer the high pace of food service by handling meal prep, frying and plating, while Davis does the cooking and managing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“He takes direction extremely well, and he knows how to take constructive criticism from me,” Brooks says about working with “Chef Jonathan,” as she calls him. “He’s creative and he has his vision. Lots of times in the kitchen, people think they can cook at home for a few people, but it’s different when you cook for the public. He’s really good at it though. He wants to get to that next level. I’m proud of his growth. I see it.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918520\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918520\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"a rib sandwich cut into fourths on a cutting board\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The MacArthur Rib sandwich is an ode to MacArthur Boulevard, where Davis lives. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Together, the Oakland duo is serving their community while having fun and playing to their strengths. Crowd favorites like Davis’s panko-and-eggs battered grits—which are deep fried for a crispy golden outer layer, doused in a spicy tomato-based sauce then topped off with shrimp—have resulted in them getting hired for Mardi Gras-themed parties and Southern-style cookouts all over the Bay.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Navigating Forward, New Recipes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to recent \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/eprfp10.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">research conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, around 60% of formerly incarcerated Americans are unemployed. And even for those who have secured jobs, the data shows higher rates of turnover and rehiring. These trends reveal \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2022/02/08/employment/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a “labor market injustice”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and point to a harsh truth: Once you’ve been marked by the carceral system, it’s hard to get back on your feet. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://prospect.org/special-report/new-jim-crow/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Discarding former inmates as “second-class citizens” when they re-enter society\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the ravages of the prison industrial complex are undeniable. This is especially true for Black Americans, who—due to a variety of systemic, historical factors—make up a disproportionate amount of the incarcerated population in this country.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The probation shit is rough, and filling out forms for jobs as a felon is rough,” says Davis. “It’s not only related to Blackness, but also class and not having enough money for legal help.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13915489,arts_13916965,arts_13916044']The barriers preventing Davis—and many other formerly incarcerated folks—from being hired to work desirable positions are numerously stacked. The stigma around incarceration can be debilitating, offering no room for mistakes or missteps. In the Bay Area food scene, specifically, there are a handful of organizations that support aspiring foodmakers who were once incarcerated—such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13916965/farming-hope-food-justice-non-profit-coffee-pop-up-guest-chef-mannys-sf\">Farming Hope\u003c/a> in San Francisco—but these are few and far between. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rather than trying to navigate these difficult institutional pathways, Davis recognized the most direct road to success in the kitchen was to take initiative and do it for himself.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I want to express what I want in the kitchen,” says Davis. “I’ve bartended at Kincaid’s. The guys back there are cooking, but their dream isn’t to make 57 crab dips per day. It’s conformity. You don’t have much control and there’s a lot of monetary pressure. The guy who makes turkey legs might not want to make turkey legs. This way, I can at least have my independence.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For now, food is a side gig for Davis, but eventually, if an opportunity presents itself, he would love to do it full-time. Until then, customers can reach him via text or DM. He’s always ready to slang a batch of sandwiches or pull up for an event.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918528\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918528\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Jonathan Davis holds a freshly prepared fried chicken sandwich in his hands\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Davis offers his fried chicken sandwich. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I visited him with a small group of friends at his Oakland apartment, he hosted us with a sense of visible pride and passion for his cooking. We were in his living room, seated at his table, eating his homemade food. It’s unlike any experience I’ve had with a chef—an intimate level of trust and connection, built on the freedom of being able to move around someone’s space once invited. It became evident that his gratitude for ordinary decision making and simplicity are essential ingredients in his life.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">From a rotating panoply of freshly-made sandwiches, homestyle french fries, and of course, his famous grits and shrimp, we were fed like Bay Area royalty. The fried chicken sandwich, which was accompanied by \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">arugula, tomatoes and jalapeños on a sweet brioche bun, had a beautiful, understated crispness that exemplifies Davis’s well-executed takes on simple favorites. His love for local references—like the notorious MacArthur Rib, which uses country pork rib, Everett and Jones BBQ sauce, onions and pickles—also speak to Davis’s playfulness, adding a layer of appreciation to each flavorful bite.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It reminds me how my favorite chefs don’t measure their worth with abstract fine dining concepts or stylized presentations. Instead, they are focused on plating nourishment in the form of self care and community preservation. And sometimes, that’s shaped like a sandwich.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12904247 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jdthesandman/\">JD the Sandman\u003c/a> is available for private orders and limited catering services via \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jdthesandman/\">Instagram\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Before Oakland's JD the Sandman started slinging sandwiches on Instagram, he honed his passion for cooking in federal prison.",
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"twTitle": "A Formerly Incarcerated Construction Worker Finds Freedom in the Kitchen",
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"description": "Before Oakland's JD the Sandman started slinging sandwiches on Instagram, he honed his passion for cooking in federal prison.",
"title": "JD the Sandman, a Formerly Incarcerated Sandwich Maker, Finds Freedom in the Kitchen | KQED",
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"headline": "A Formerly Incarcerated Construction Worker Finds Freedom in the Kitchen",
"datePublished": "2022-09-01T13:39:01-07:00",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">E\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>very weekday, Jonathan Davis wakes up at 6am and heads into the yawn of morning light in his construction boots. As a full-time employee of WBE Traffic Control, he operates all over the East Bay, establishing safe zones for workers to repair power lines. It’s a systematized job, filled with rigid procedures, rules, and protocols that he and his coworkers abide by to maintain public safety.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Around 5pm he returns home to a three-year-old daughter who recently started preschool. He prepares dinner, watches \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Boys\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, then repeats his regiment the following day. It’s a churning livelihood that he embraces—even on Saturdays—in order to make ends meet, a prototypically American dedication to a grind that usually denies any form of extracurricular joy. The job isn’t glamorous, he tells me, but he’s grateful for it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s because working in construction provides the backbone of income that allows Davis to do what he actually loves the most: cooking for others. On Sundays, he busts out his favorite recipes and vends food from his home, using social media and word-of-mouth to feed his community, friends and neighbors around Oakland and beyond.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Cooking is like an artistic outlet for me,” says Davis, age 41. “I get to create things and I get to share that with my friends and family. When something doesn’t taste right, I get to improve it and make it better.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For years, Davis has been perfecting his favorite dishes. A proud Oaklander, he says he grew up with a deep appreciation of the Bay Area’s tapestry of Asian and Latinx flavors—a cultural richness that gave him the confidence to experiment with the soul food ingredients he and his family grew up eating, including shrimp and grits, salmon and fried chicken.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But he’s most known for his sandwiches—chopped cheese like you’d find in a Harlem bodega and whimsical creations like the “MacArthur Rib,” a play on the McDonald’s classic. The sandos have earned him a reputation around The Town and helped fuel a burgeoning catering business. They also inspired the chef’s nickname: \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jdthesandman/\">JD the Sandman\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yet, it wasn’t a culinary institute where Davis got his game from. And it wasn’t a Michelin-star restaurant that taught him the importance of fresh, diverse ingredients and food’s ability to connect people. It was elsewhere: behind the walls of the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, Oregon.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cooking from Scratch Inside a Federal Correctional Institution\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Prison is a reality that many Californians know very little about. For those who haven’t had first-hand experience, it’s often a figment of imagination largely based on movies and television shows, where violence is typically the primary focus. Most people know even less about what happens when a person re-enters society after serving their time. Occasionally, an investigative project like “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facing.life/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Facing Life\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” (which KQED staff writer Pendarvis Harshaw co-authored) can illuminate the complexities of life after incarceration. Otherwise, it’s a taboo, and usually avoided, subject.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis was no different in the way he saw prison as something intangible in his own day-to-day life. A middle-class son of college graduates, he says his own incarceration is something he felt ashamed of, particularly as a Black man.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I invalidated my parent’s efforts, especially knowing the narratives of Black families,” Davis admits. “They were involved in our lives. My parents did all this work for us, and I still ended up in prison.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918519\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918519\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Jonathan Davis looks out from the balcony of his apartment next to the freeway\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57647_016_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jonathan Davis stands on the deck at his apartment. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A former educational nonprofit employee in Oakland, Davis never thought he’d end up behind bars. In late 2010, he lost his job due to a disagreement with the principal after a student was expelled. In Davis’s telling of it, the incident had to do with race—he was pushing back in defense of Black students. After losing his job, Davis started to hang out with a crowd of people who introduced him to “scamming.” In that moment of financial need, he saw it as a quick way to turn a profit. In his eyes, he was hustling a governmental system rather than taking from individuals. But the scheme came crashing down in 2013 when the IRS raided his home, guns drawn.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I was a halfway criminal and didn’t cross my t’s or dot my i’s,” he says. “At that point in life, my faith in myself was weaker.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis faced up to 20 years in prison, but was ultimately sentenced to 30 months. He wound up serving 18 of those months at federal institutions in Nevada and Oregon. As soon as he was convicted, he accepted his role in his wrongdoing and decided to move forward with his life by facing the consequences of his actions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "“It wasn’t a Michelin-star restaurant that taught [Davis] the importance of fresh, diverse ingredients and food’s ability to connect people. It was elsewhere: behind the walls of the Federal Correctional Institution.”",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>While imprisoned from 2014 to 2016, Davis’s good behavior landed him in a low-security environment, where he was given certain privileges. He joined a gardening program, frequently read about cooking and met people like \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/leasdef?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kasey Anderson, a Portland-based songwriter\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite a largely solitary prison experience, Davis discovered that food was a way for him to relate with others and represent his heritage. He began to cook for himself and his blockmates, including Anderson, who recognized his skills.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s tough to know who’s a good cook when you’re inside,” Anderson says. “Everyone’s all working with the same ingredients from commissary. You can see who is innovative and using flavors in ways others aren’t. JD would get creative with his food, and when he had a chance to work with [more ingredients], he could really express himself creatively through food. It’s cool to me that it became something for him that can exist outside. A lot of people do things inside to get by, but then go out and do what they need to go paycheck to paycheck. He isn’t limiting himself in that sense.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis explains how, at times, he had to get extra creative with the limited ingredients and lack of traditional cooking equipment available to him in prison.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There was a sweat lodge, and we cooked a piece of pork in there [one time],” he recalls. “[Another time] we made pizzas with tortillas and barbecue sauce. That was my idea. During my time, I just made friends with the kitchen guys, and that helped to keep my sanity.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Peanut butter was one of the most popular, versatile ingredients in prison—Davis recalls drawing inspiration from a peanut butter stew he’d once seen a Cameroonian immigrant whip up in his neighborhood, years prior. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite having almost no experience working inside a formal restaurant—though he’d once bartended at Kincaid’s in Jack London Square—Davis was naturally drawn to the freedom the kitchen provided. In an environment where authority and separation is enforced by armed guards and selfhood is under vigilant regulation, cooking for himself and his peers became a source of restorative connection. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918521\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918521\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"two guests holding plates of shrimps and grits in an apartment kitchen\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57636_005_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two guests enjoying grits and shrimp prepared by Davis in his home. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After being released, Davis was unable to get hired back into the nonprofit world. That’s when he started working in construction—since, as Davis puts it, nonprofits “prefer to hire non convicts.” He maintained his obsession with cooking, though, and applied a sense of redemption towards his Sunday cooking routine.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Food for me became about honoring my family,” he says. “About giving back whatever I could.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2020, when the pandemic hit, Davis joined Instagram and noticed an opportunity to share his food with a wider audience. He started by cooking dinner for family, friends and neighbors, who encouraged him to expand his menu and sell his dishes. Inspired by their suggestions and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13907726/e-40-goon-with-the-spoon-bay-area-rappers-food-entrepreneurs-hustle\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the success of other homegrown, independent food entrepreneurs\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the Bay Area, Davis rolled up his sleeves and began to mess around more seriously with his side hustle. With each praised meal, he gained confidence, eventually introducing his first certified hit: the MacArthur Rib Sandwich.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A play on McDonald’s famously elusive McRib, Davis added his own touches by roasting “real meat” and incorporating better ingredients to deliver what would become a banger for his growing base of returning customers. He followed that up with an array of other in-demand sandwiches, including a cast-iron seared and baked salmon (Cajun spices, arugula, dill relish, mayo) and New York bodega-style chopped cheese (\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ground beef, American deli cheese, chopped tomatoes, mayo and ketchup mix, sweet jalapeño)\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Davis says the pandemic’s slowdown gave him an opportunity to reconnect with how much food means to him. Since then, he’s been sharing edible comfort with his folks.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The way I’m doing this now, I can be independent,” he says. “This cooking allows me to do something I want and I’m grateful for that. It’s a release.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Catering for the Public\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Markesha Brooks is a lifelong Oakland resident who works as the head chef at Grand Lake Gardens. In her spare time, she runs her catering business, MB Soul, serving up fire plates of soul food at softball games, Southland Mall and Lake Merritt.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After meeting Davis over a decade ago, the two friends remained in touch. When he returned to Oakland on probation and eventually started his series of informal food events, he and Brooks decided to work together to leverage their mutual interest in cooking. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“He’s a foodie, I’m a foodie. We’ve actually grown really close around food,” says Brooks. “He likes to pick restaurants in different cities. We go have specific dishes that those restaurants are known for. He’s eager to learn.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With 18 years of experience, Brooks has been an ideal “coach” for Davis, critiquing his methods and offering advice on how to make adjustments. Currently, she assists Davis as a de facto sous chef whenever Davis is hired for large functions. Though he started out selling sandwiches exclusively out of his Lower Dimond apartment off MacArthur Boulevard, Davis’s business has since expanded—occasionally taking him out to Fairfield, Vallejo and even Sacramento. Bringing Brooks into the mix has allowed him to offer a more robust range of services. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the past six months, he has been hired to privately cater multiple events, including weddings and large birthday parties of more than 60 people. Brooks helps him steer the high pace of food service by handling meal prep, frying and plating, while Davis does the cooking and managing.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“He takes direction extremely well, and he knows how to take constructive criticism from me,” Brooks says about working with “Chef Jonathan,” as she calls him. “He’s creative and he has his vision. Lots of times in the kitchen, people think they can cook at home for a few people, but it’s different when you cook for the public. He’s really good at it though. He wants to get to that next level. I’m proud of his growth. I see it.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918520\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918520\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"a rib sandwich cut into fourths on a cutting board\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57640_007_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The MacArthur Rib sandwich is an ode to MacArthur Boulevard, where Davis lives. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Together, the Oakland duo is serving their community while having fun and playing to their strengths. Crowd favorites like Davis’s panko-and-eggs battered grits—which are deep fried for a crispy golden outer layer, doused in a spicy tomato-based sauce then topped off with shrimp—have resulted in them getting hired for Mardi Gras-themed parties and Southern-style cookouts all over the Bay.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Navigating Forward, New Recipes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to recent \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/eprfp10.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">research conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, around 60% of formerly incarcerated Americans are unemployed. And even for those who have secured jobs, the data shows higher rates of turnover and rehiring. These trends reveal \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2022/02/08/employment/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a “labor market injustice”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and point to a harsh truth: Once you’ve been marked by the carceral system, it’s hard to get back on your feet. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://prospect.org/special-report/new-jim-crow/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Discarding former inmates as “second-class citizens” when they re-enter society\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the ravages of the prison industrial complex are undeniable. This is especially true for Black Americans, who—due to a variety of systemic, historical factors—make up a disproportionate amount of the incarcerated population in this country.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The probation shit is rough, and filling out forms for jobs as a felon is rough,” says Davis. “It’s not only related to Blackness, but also class and not having enough money for legal help.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The barriers preventing Davis—and many other formerly incarcerated folks—from being hired to work desirable positions are numerously stacked. The stigma around incarceration can be debilitating, offering no room for mistakes or missteps. In the Bay Area food scene, specifically, there are a handful of organizations that support aspiring foodmakers who were once incarcerated—such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13916965/farming-hope-food-justice-non-profit-coffee-pop-up-guest-chef-mannys-sf\">Farming Hope\u003c/a> in San Francisco—but these are few and far between. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rather than trying to navigate these difficult institutional pathways, Davis recognized the most direct road to success in the kitchen was to take initiative and do it for himself.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I want to express what I want in the kitchen,” says Davis. “I’ve bartended at Kincaid’s. The guys back there are cooking, but their dream isn’t to make 57 crab dips per day. It’s conformity. You don’t have much control and there’s a lot of monetary pressure. The guy who makes turkey legs might not want to make turkey legs. This way, I can at least have my independence.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For now, food is a side gig for Davis, but eventually, if an opportunity presents itself, he would love to do it full-time. Until then, customers can reach him via text or DM. He’s always ready to slang a batch of sandwiches or pull up for an event.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918528\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918528\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Jonathan Davis holds a freshly prepared fried chicken sandwich in his hands\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/RS57645_013_KQEDArts_FoodJonathanDavis_08082022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Davis offers his fried chicken sandwich. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When I visited him with a small group of friends at his Oakland apartment, he hosted us with a sense of visible pride and passion for his cooking. We were in his living room, seated at his table, eating his homemade food. It’s unlike any experience I’ve had with a chef—an intimate level of trust and connection, built on the freedom of being able to move around someone’s space once invited. It became evident that his gratitude for ordinary decision making and simplicity are essential ingredients in his life.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">From a rotating panoply of freshly-made sandwiches, homestyle french fries, and of course, his famous grits and shrimp, we were fed like Bay Area royalty. The fried chicken sandwich, which was accompanied by \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">arugula, tomatoes and jalapeños on a sweet brioche bun, had a beautiful, understated crispness that exemplifies Davis’s well-executed takes on simple favorites. His love for local references—like the notorious MacArthur Rib, which uses country pork rib, Everett and Jones BBQ sauce, onions and pickles—also speak to Davis’s playfulness, adding a layer of appreciation to each flavorful bite.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It reminds me how my favorite chefs don’t measure their worth with abstract fine dining concepts or stylized presentations. Instead, they are focused on plating nourishment in the form of self care and community preservation. And sometimes, that’s shaped like a sandwich.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12904247 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jdthesandman/\">JD the Sandman\u003c/a> is available for private orders and limited catering services via \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jdthesandman/\">Instagram\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "sucka-free-soul-the-vegan-hood-chefs-honor-southern-heritage-with-a-frisco-twist",
"title": "Sucka Free Soul: The Vegan Hood Chefs Honor Southern Heritage With a Frisco Twist",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve been on a vegan kick lately. Maybe after visiting my family in Mexico—a trip that began with tacos al pastor, continued with tacos al pastor and ended with tacos al pastor—I subconsciously reverted to a cleaner, lighter diet upon my return to California. Luckily, the Bay Area is one of the country’s leading regions for vegan options, as evidenced by events like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13915889/berkeley-vegan-food-festival-bizerkeley-vegan\">The Bizerkeley Food Festival\u003c/a> later this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week I linked up with \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/theveganhoodchefs/?hl=en\">The Vegan Hood Chefs\u003c/a>, a popular duo from San Francisco who serve bomb, Southern-inspired comfort foods while “revolutionizing hood nutrition.” They are part of a larger wave of Black vegan entrepreneurs in the Bay Area, including \u003ca href=\"https://souleyvegan.com/\">Souley Vegan\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://veganmob.biz/\">Vegan Mob\u003c/a>, who are redefining what vegan food can be for diverse communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plant-based po’ boys with oyster mushrooms? Giant plates of jambalaya using vegan sausage, bell peppers, onions, garlic, rice and celery? Marinated chunks of breaded jackfruit fried in Cajun spices? The Vegan Hood Chefs have got it all. And like any true Bay Area hustlers, they’re everywhere with it, posting up in the Mission, Stockton, Oakland and beyond—anywhere they can serve their flavorful heritage to hungry folks who might not yet know the pleasures of veganism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13916056\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13916056 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-800x533.jpg\" alt='two plates of vegan french fries on a table outside in front of the Vegan Hood Chefs food truck. A printed slogan on the side of the truck says \"revolutionizing hood nutrition\"' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jambalaya fries, left, and birria fries, right, served by the Vegan Hood Chefs \u003ccite>(Briana Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When I met them in a parking lot on 18th and Valencia, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ronnishia Johnson-Hasan \u003c/span>(a licensed clinical social worker, mother and family caretaker from Hunters Point) and her business partner, Rheema Calloway (chef, caretaker and community organizer from Lakeview), were blasting Bay Area anthems from a sound system and dishing up mounds of vegan goodies, including four varieties of “loaded” french fries: Jackfruit Birria (spiced jackfruit, cilantro, diced onions, and vegan cheese sauce), Surf and Turf (Konjac Root Skrimp and Lions Maine “steak” with creamy Alfredo sauce), Jambalaya (vegan parmesan garlic butter and vegan jambalaya) and Poke (coconut-marinated papaya, seaweed, wasabi mayo and hearts of palm “Krab”).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was more than enough to excite any vegan eater—whether full-time, part-time, or first-time. I took a seat with them to hear about how it all started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">*****\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KQED: When did you each begin your individual journeys as vegans?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ronnishia: I started my transition into veganism in 2010, 2011. I was an undergrad at Texas Southern University, and we were roommates. I had hypertension blood pressure, so my boyfriend at the time educated me on a plant-based diet, my weight and overall health. I did more research and I started the process. I cut out red meat, and eventually over 10 to 12 years I became full vegan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rheema: We were best friends. When she started her transition in college I thought she was crazy—she was eating differently and cut all her hair off. But when we graduated and came home [to San Francisco], we started to learn more about food justice. She challenged me to do a fast with her, so we did it for 30 days. I realized how much energy I had and how good I felt afterward. I was a struggling pescatarian at first, and then around 2012 I transitioned to being vegan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How did The Vegan Hood Chefs start?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ronnishia: It started in 2017. We started this journey by wanting to eat healthy. We lived in a food desert as Black folks. Most of our work is in our own communities, which are food deserts, where people aren’t having conversations around veganism in a culturally connected way. We wanted our families and folks we love to join the conversation about food justice. And we didn’t see people like us leading those conversations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, we started a food page on Instagram to raise awareness on what we were eating and cooking. We didn’t plan to start a business at all. Then, one of our friends at the time was hosting an event and their caterer backed out at the last minute, so she asked us to do it instead. At the time, we had a partner in culinary school—my cousin—and we figured we could try to do it together. My day job used a kitchen whenever we needed to cook for kids, so we used that. [That first event] we cooked for 200 people and it sold out. That spread through word of mouth and online and it took off from there. It just filled a need in the community around veganism and eating healthy as a healing practice in Black and Brown communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s an example of a dish on your menu that is popular?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rheema: The Sucka Free Poboy is special. We’re intentional about naming our items. It’s based on San Francisco [“Sucka Free City”] and how we speak here, but inspired by our grandmothers, who are both from Louisiana. We grew up eating this. Our Po’boy uses oyster mushrooms battered in the way our grandmothers would do it. It’s fried, with lettuce, tomatoes, purple cabbage, green onions and topped with our house sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ronnishia: Also, the bread we use is super awesome. It’s from Acme, a local bakery. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our mushrooms are sourced by Far West Fungi!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How does your food reflect your connection to the Bay Area?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ronnishia: I’m from Hunters Point and Rheema is from Lakeview. It’s printed on our truck. We have a deep connection to our heritage and culture, but also to The City. A lot of families migrated here from the South to work in the shipyards, so there’s a deep relationship to places like Louisiana and Texas. We bring that out in our food with the names and ingredients we choose. We want you to get our experience as Black folks living in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rheema: We’re all over the Bay, too. The beauty of the truck is that we get to honor who we are, but also meet people where they’re at. We’ve been from S.F. to Richmond to Oakland to Stockton to Sacramento to Santa Cruz to San Ramon to Sonoma County and back. It’s dope. We’re popping up everywhere. We also did that when we didn’t have the truck, but now it’s about giving more accessibility in our communities. We’ve also been partnering with Bay Area businesses like \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Natrully Herbs\u003c/span> in Richmond, a Black-owned collaborative space with smoothies and alkaline foods, which is a step above vegan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What challenges have you overcome with running an independent business?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ronnishia: Lack of representation. We started off in this industry without any real knowledge around how to run a food business. Fortunately, we picked that up along the way. But it’s often difficult for communities of color to have the capital to start a business, even when we’re being innovative. It makes you doubt yourself. Lacking access to mentorship and support, we had to figure out how we do it all as we go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, it’s difficult to be a Black woman in a male-dominated industry. It feels like we have to work 10 times as hard to be taken seriously and have the same opportunities. The food industry is fast-paced and changing, so there’s always a need to pivot and keep your business sustainable. During the pandemic we were affected—before we had a food truck—and we had to completely revamp our model from pop-ups and home events to using social media more and engaging our audience. It’s hard to find good, reliable staff too. That’s happening all over the food industry right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13916057\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13916057 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"one side of the Vegan Hood Chefs' truck shares their mission, which is to honor the heritage, sacredness and practices of cultural foods\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Vegan Hood Chefs are on a mission to “honor the heritage, sacredness, and practices of cultural foods.” \u003ccite>(Briana Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>When you’re not eating your own food, where do you go to grub on vegan dishes?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rheema: Our top favorite is Om Sabor, on Grove Street [in San Francisco]. It’s Latinx inspired and influenced. They make the best muthafuckin’ \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">krab sushi and food fusions\u003c/span>. The enchiladas there are hella good. They do vegan plates that you can share in groups. Golden Lotus, in Oakland. Comidadejen, Casa Borinqueña and \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Koquito\u003c/span>, Puerto Rican-infused places.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ronnishia: Malibu Burgers in Piedmont is good. We go to Wildseed a lot; they have a delicious mushroom pizza we love. There’s great Ethiopian food like Oasis Cafe in Fillmore. \u003ca href=\"https://www.caferomanat.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Café Romanat\u003c/span>\u003c/a> in Oakland. Vegan Solstice in Stockton, which hosts pop-ups. Vegan Heat, Black-owned, that’s a pop-up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rheema: Oh, what’s our favorite ice cream place called? \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kubè Nice Cream in Oakland\u003c/span>. They have this coconut and key lime ice cream. Oh my gosh. It’s hella good. Makes you wanna slap your momma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What are you cooking up next?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ronnishia: We’re working on a cookbook that should be coming out towards the end of this year. We’re working on more online content as well—we want to tap into creating more video content, to provide resources around how to shop and where to start being vegan. This work is something we really enjoy, and these are the conversations we have with people from our communities who visit our truck. We have a blog we utilize somewhat—which the Bizerkeley Vegan used to write for—but we haven’t been able to do that as much lately. Our main mission is to just keep connecting and educating our community, and to cook in as many ways as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rheema: We’re in the Mission a lot. You can’t miss us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/theveganhoodchefs/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Vegan Hood Chefs\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> regularly rotate menus and locations. Check their social media pages for updates on where they’ll be next.\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a column about Bay Area foodmakers, exploring the region’s culinary cultures through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve been on a vegan kick lately. Maybe after visiting my family in Mexico—a trip that began with tacos al pastor, continued with tacos al pastor and ended with tacos al pastor—I subconsciously reverted to a cleaner, lighter diet upon my return to California. Luckily, the Bay Area is one of the country’s leading regions for vegan options, as evidenced by events like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13915889/berkeley-vegan-food-festival-bizerkeley-vegan\">The Bizerkeley Food Festival\u003c/a> later this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week I linked up with \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/theveganhoodchefs/?hl=en\">The Vegan Hood Chefs\u003c/a>, a popular duo from San Francisco who serve bomb, Southern-inspired comfort foods while “revolutionizing hood nutrition.” They are part of a larger wave of Black vegan entrepreneurs in the Bay Area, including \u003ca href=\"https://souleyvegan.com/\">Souley Vegan\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://veganmob.biz/\">Vegan Mob\u003c/a>, who are redefining what vegan food can be for diverse communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plant-based po’ boys with oyster mushrooms? Giant plates of jambalaya using vegan sausage, bell peppers, onions, garlic, rice and celery? Marinated chunks of breaded jackfruit fried in Cajun spices? The Vegan Hood Chefs have got it all. And like any true Bay Area hustlers, they’re everywhere with it, posting up in the Mission, Stockton, Oakland and beyond—anywhere they can serve their flavorful heritage to hungry folks who might not yet know the pleasures of veganism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13916056\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13916056 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-800x533.jpg\" alt='two plates of vegan french fries on a table outside in front of the Vegan Hood Chefs food truck. A printed slogan on the side of the truck says \"revolutionizing hood nutrition\"' width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1388-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jambalaya fries, left, and birria fries, right, served by the Vegan Hood Chefs \u003ccite>(Briana Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When I met them in a parking lot on 18th and Valencia, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ronnishia Johnson-Hasan \u003c/span>(a licensed clinical social worker, mother and family caretaker from Hunters Point) and her business partner, Rheema Calloway (chef, caretaker and community organizer from Lakeview), were blasting Bay Area anthems from a sound system and dishing up mounds of vegan goodies, including four varieties of “loaded” french fries: Jackfruit Birria (spiced jackfruit, cilantro, diced onions, and vegan cheese sauce), Surf and Turf (Konjac Root Skrimp and Lions Maine “steak” with creamy Alfredo sauce), Jambalaya (vegan parmesan garlic butter and vegan jambalaya) and Poke (coconut-marinated papaya, seaweed, wasabi mayo and hearts of palm “Krab”).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was more than enough to excite any vegan eater—whether full-time, part-time, or first-time. I took a seat with them to hear about how it all started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">*****\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>KQED: When did you each begin your individual journeys as vegans?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ronnishia: I started my transition into veganism in 2010, 2011. I was an undergrad at Texas Southern University, and we were roommates. I had hypertension blood pressure, so my boyfriend at the time educated me on a plant-based diet, my weight and overall health. I did more research and I started the process. I cut out red meat, and eventually over 10 to 12 years I became full vegan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rheema: We were best friends. When she started her transition in college I thought she was crazy—she was eating differently and cut all her hair off. But when we graduated and came home [to San Francisco], we started to learn more about food justice. She challenged me to do a fast with her, so we did it for 30 days. I realized how much energy I had and how good I felt afterward. I was a struggling pescatarian at first, and then around 2012 I transitioned to being vegan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How did The Vegan Hood Chefs start?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ronnishia: It started in 2017. We started this journey by wanting to eat healthy. We lived in a food desert as Black folks. Most of our work is in our own communities, which are food deserts, where people aren’t having conversations around veganism in a culturally connected way. We wanted our families and folks we love to join the conversation about food justice. And we didn’t see people like us leading those conversations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, we started a food page on Instagram to raise awareness on what we were eating and cooking. We didn’t plan to start a business at all. Then, one of our friends at the time was hosting an event and their caterer backed out at the last minute, so she asked us to do it instead. At the time, we had a partner in culinary school—my cousin—and we figured we could try to do it together. My day job used a kitchen whenever we needed to cook for kids, so we used that. [That first event] we cooked for 200 people and it sold out. That spread through word of mouth and online and it took off from there. It just filled a need in the community around veganism and eating healthy as a healing practice in Black and Brown communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s an example of a dish on your menu that is popular?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rheema: The Sucka Free Poboy is special. We’re intentional about naming our items. It’s based on San Francisco [“Sucka Free City”] and how we speak here, but inspired by our grandmothers, who are both from Louisiana. We grew up eating this. Our Po’boy uses oyster mushrooms battered in the way our grandmothers would do it. It’s fried, with lettuce, tomatoes, purple cabbage, green onions and topped with our house sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ronnishia: Also, the bread we use is super awesome. It’s from Acme, a local bakery. \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our mushrooms are sourced by Far West Fungi!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>How does your food reflect your connection to the Bay Area?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ronnishia: I’m from Hunters Point and Rheema is from Lakeview. It’s printed on our truck. We have a deep connection to our heritage and culture, but also to The City. A lot of families migrated here from the South to work in the shipyards, so there’s a deep relationship to places like Louisiana and Texas. We bring that out in our food with the names and ingredients we choose. We want you to get our experience as Black folks living in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rheema: We’re all over the Bay, too. The beauty of the truck is that we get to honor who we are, but also meet people where they’re at. We’ve been from S.F. to Richmond to Oakland to Stockton to Sacramento to Santa Cruz to San Ramon to Sonoma County and back. It’s dope. We’re popping up everywhere. We also did that when we didn’t have the truck, but now it’s about giving more accessibility in our communities. We’ve also been partnering with Bay Area businesses like \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Natrully Herbs\u003c/span> in Richmond, a Black-owned collaborative space with smoothies and alkaline foods, which is a step above vegan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What challenges have you overcome with running an independent business?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ronnishia: Lack of representation. We started off in this industry without any real knowledge around how to run a food business. Fortunately, we picked that up along the way. But it’s often difficult for communities of color to have the capital to start a business, even when we’re being innovative. It makes you doubt yourself. Lacking access to mentorship and support, we had to figure out how we do it all as we go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, it’s difficult to be a Black woman in a male-dominated industry. It feels like we have to work 10 times as hard to be taken seriously and have the same opportunities. The food industry is fast-paced and changing, so there’s always a need to pivot and keep your business sustainable. During the pandemic we were affected—before we had a food truck—and we had to completely revamp our model from pop-ups and home events to using social media more and engaging our audience. It’s hard to find good, reliable staff too. That’s happening all over the food industry right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13916057\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13916057 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"one side of the Vegan Hood Chefs' truck shares their mission, which is to honor the heritage, sacredness and practices of cultural foods\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/07/IMG_1412-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Vegan Hood Chefs are on a mission to “honor the heritage, sacredness, and practices of cultural foods.” \u003ccite>(Briana Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>When you’re not eating your own food, where do you go to grub on vegan dishes?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rheema: Our top favorite is Om Sabor, on Grove Street [in San Francisco]. It’s Latinx inspired and influenced. They make the best muthafuckin’ \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">krab sushi and food fusions\u003c/span>. The enchiladas there are hella good. They do vegan plates that you can share in groups. Golden Lotus, in Oakland. Comidadejen, Casa Borinqueña and \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Koquito\u003c/span>, Puerto Rican-infused places.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ronnishia: Malibu Burgers in Piedmont is good. We go to Wildseed a lot; they have a delicious mushroom pizza we love. There’s great Ethiopian food like Oasis Cafe in Fillmore. \u003ca href=\"https://www.caferomanat.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Café Romanat\u003c/span>\u003c/a> in Oakland. Vegan Solstice in Stockton, which hosts pop-ups. Vegan Heat, Black-owned, that’s a pop-up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rheema: Oh, what’s our favorite ice cream place called? \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kubè Nice Cream in Oakland\u003c/span>. They have this coconut and key lime ice cream. Oh my gosh. It’s hella good. Makes you wanna slap your momma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What are you cooking up next?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ronnishia: We’re working on a cookbook that should be coming out towards the end of this year. We’re working on more online content as well—we want to tap into creating more video content, to provide resources around how to shop and where to start being vegan. This work is something we really enjoy, and these are the conversations we have with people from our communities who visit our truck. We have a blog we utilize somewhat—which the Bizerkeley Vegan used to write for—but we haven’t been able to do that as much lately. Our main mission is to just keep connecting and educating our community, and to cook in as many ways as possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rheema: We’re in the Mission a lot. You can’t miss us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/theveganhoodchefs/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Vegan Hood Chefs\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> regularly rotate menus and locations. Check their social media pages for updates on where they’ll be next.\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Baking a Cake for the Afrofuturism Potluck",
"headTitle": "Baking a Cake for the Afrofuturism Potluck | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A crash course on \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13901009/omca-afrofuturism-mothership-review\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Afrofuturism\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> might include \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Black Panther’s \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">portrayal of a utopian, techno-centric Wakanda, the science fiction novels of Octavia Butler and a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13864915/the-liberated-pop-future-missy-elliott-envisioned-is-now\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Missy Elliott music video\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—all visions of a liberated future seen through a Black lens. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But what will Black people be eating in this thriving, revolutionary future? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s the question that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://eattheculture.com/about/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eat the Culture\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a collective of Black food bloggers, explores this month through a series of Afrofuturism-themed \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/eattheculture/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">social media posts\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and online gatherings, including a Feb. 24 collaboration with the magazine \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cuisine Noir\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Framed as a “Virtual Potluck,” the series celebrates Black History Month by remixing traditional dishes of the African diaspora to create new recipes that are artful and, at times, deeply political: A plate of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://senseandedibility.com/salmorejo-jueyes-coconut-grits-cakes/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">stewed crab and grits\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> fuses together African and Puerto Rican traditions. A \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://meikoandthedish.com/sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-brulee-black-history-month-virtual-potluck/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">coconut rice pudding\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> doubles as a commentary on gentrification. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s this intersection of technology, culture, innovation and politics,” co-organizer Stefani Renée, of the Bay Area–based blog \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://savorandsage.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Savor and Sage\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, says of Afrofuturism. “How do we explore that through food?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The event stems from a similar virtual potluck that a\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> handful of prominent Black food bloggers—including Aaron Hutcherson (of the blog \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.thehungryhutch.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Hungry Hutch\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">) and Meiko Temple (of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://meikoandthedish.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mieko and the Dish\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">)—put together each year for Black History Month \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tastingtable.com/693332/black-history-month-african-american-food-blog-2017/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">starting in 2017\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Renée, a relative newcomer to food blogging, joined in the past two years and started talking to other participants about expanding the group’s efforts beyond just one or two virtual events each year. In particular, the group wanted to create a support system for Black food bloggers, given the unique set of challenges that they face.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13909336\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13909336\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes.jpg\" alt=\"Overhead view of a plate of tempura-fried okra served over a bright orange pool of confit tomatoes\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes-800x640.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes-1020x816.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes-160x128.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes-768x614.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes-1536x1229.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes-1920x1536.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Food blogger Kenneth Temple’s riff on stewed okra includes fine dining touches like confit tomatoes and smoked sausage “dust.” \u003ccite>(Kenneth Temple)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Folks don’t know that we’re here,” Renée says. “When we start looking at who gets the most exposure, it’s usually white female food bloggers—and they’re getting attention for foods that aren’t necessarily authentic or native to them.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Stefani Renée\"]“Black food isn’t a monolith. There are so many different aspects to Black food that people don’t know.”[/pullquote]Meanwhile, Renée says, Black and other BIPOC food bloggers struggle to get that same level of recognition and, just as importantly, to land the kind of lucrative sponsorship deals that make food blogging a viable full-time career. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://eattheculture.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eat the Culture\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was created as a platform for Black food bloggers to share that kind of information with one another—a place where they could access tutorials on shooting food videos and get tips about search engine optimization. As Renée puts it, “How do we break these barriers and create our own space?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This year’s Afrofuturism-themed potluck is one of the collective’s first signature events. Renée sees it as an extension of the work of \u003ca href=\"https://savorandsage.com/\">her own blog\u003c/a>, which focuses on updating and expanding people’s definition of “soul food” to include things other than just fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. “\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Black food isn’t a monolith,” she says. “There are so many different aspects to Black food that people don’t know.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In presenting a vision for the future of Black food, several of the dishes that Eat the Culture members created for the virtual potluck explicitly challenge the idea that food with African origins isn’t “refined.” There’s a modern take on \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://thefooddisciple.com/yam-gnocchi-served-w-oxtail-pepper-soup/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">West African oxtail pepper soup\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> made with yam gnocchi, for instance, and a version of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://kennethtemple.com/smothered-okra-and-tomatoes-recipe/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">smothered okra\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that features fine dining elements like confit tomatoes and smoked sausage “dust.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13909337\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13909337\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/meikoandthedish-sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-L.jpg\" alt=\"Three portions of rice pudding served inside coconut shells, arranged on a wooden cutting board.\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/meikoandthedish-sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-L.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/meikoandthedish-sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-L-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/meikoandthedish-sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-L-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/meikoandthedish-sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-L-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/meikoandthedish-sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-L-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/meikoandthedish-sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-L-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Meiko and the Dish’s modern take on sombi, the Senegalese coconut rice pudding, is a commentary on gentrification. \u003ccite>(Meiko and the Dish)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Several of the recipes veganize dishes traditionally made with meat—a rebuttal, Renée says, to the notion that “Black people don’t really eat vegetables.” Others offer pointed political commentary: \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://meikoandthedish.com/sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-brulee-black-history-month-virtual-potluck/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Meiko and the Dish’s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> aforementioned coconut rice pudding adds a crème brûlée–style burnt sugar topping to a traditional Senegalese dish, thereby mirroring “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://meikoandthedish.com/sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-brulee-black-history-month-virtual-potluck/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the concept of gentrification, the process whereby the character of a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in and typically displacing current inhabitants in the process.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13901009,arts_13900311,arts_13900855']For her own contribution to the Afrofuturism potluck, Renée did a riff on cornbread soaked in buttermilk, a very traditional, “old-school” snack that she remembers eating in her Southern grandmother’s kitchen when she was a kid. Renée’s version reimagines the treat as a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://savorandsage.com/coconut-lime-cornmeal-tres-leches-cake/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">tres leches cake\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, soaking the cornmeal cake in buttermilk, coconut milk and sweet condensed milk, then topping the whole thing with toasted coconut. The dessert is meant to feel new and modern, but it’s also a nod to the often forgotten history of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/19/afro-mexicans-census-history-identity\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mexicans of African descent\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, who have long fought for recognition in their home country.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s a combination of different cultures,” Renée says of the cake. “That’s what Afrofuturism means to me.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Throughout the month of February, Eat the Culture will highlight Afrofuturism-themed recipes on its \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/eattheculture/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instagram page\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The page will also offer details about other virtual events once they’ve been finalized, including the Cuisine Noir collaboration.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "To celebrate Black History Month, food blogging collective Eat The Culture looks toward the future of Black food.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A crash course on \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13901009/omca-afrofuturism-mothership-review\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Afrofuturism\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> might include \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Black Panther’s \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">portrayal of a utopian, techno-centric Wakanda, the science fiction novels of Octavia Butler and a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13864915/the-liberated-pop-future-missy-elliott-envisioned-is-now\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Missy Elliott music video\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—all visions of a liberated future seen through a Black lens. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But what will Black people be eating in this thriving, revolutionary future? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s the question that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://eattheculture.com/about/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eat the Culture\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a collective of Black food bloggers, explores this month through a series of Afrofuturism-themed \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/eattheculture/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">social media posts\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and online gatherings, including a Feb. 24 collaboration with the magazine \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cuisine Noir\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Framed as a “Virtual Potluck,” the series celebrates Black History Month by remixing traditional dishes of the African diaspora to create new recipes that are artful and, at times, deeply political: A plate of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://senseandedibility.com/salmorejo-jueyes-coconut-grits-cakes/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">stewed crab and grits\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> fuses together African and Puerto Rican traditions. A \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://meikoandthedish.com/sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-brulee-black-history-month-virtual-potluck/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">coconut rice pudding\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> doubles as a commentary on gentrification. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s this intersection of technology, culture, innovation and politics,” co-organizer Stefani Renée, of the Bay Area–based blog \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://savorandsage.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Savor and Sage\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, says of Afrofuturism. “How do we explore that through food?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The event stems from a similar virtual potluck that a\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> handful of prominent Black food bloggers—including Aaron Hutcherson (of the blog \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.thehungryhutch.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Hungry Hutch\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">) and Meiko Temple (of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://meikoandthedish.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mieko and the Dish\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">)—put together each year for Black History Month \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tastingtable.com/693332/black-history-month-african-american-food-blog-2017/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">starting in 2017\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Renée, a relative newcomer to food blogging, joined in the past two years and started talking to other participants about expanding the group’s efforts beyond just one or two virtual events each year. In particular, the group wanted to create a support system for Black food bloggers, given the unique set of challenges that they face.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13909336\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13909336\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes.jpg\" alt=\"Overhead view of a plate of tempura-fried okra served over a bright orange pool of confit tomatoes\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes-800x640.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes-1020x816.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes-160x128.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes-768x614.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes-1536x1229.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/Kenneth-Temple_Smothered-Okra-and-Tomatoes-1920x1536.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Food blogger Kenneth Temple’s riff on stewed okra includes fine dining touches like confit tomatoes and smoked sausage “dust.” \u003ccite>(Kenneth Temple)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Folks don’t know that we’re here,” Renée says. “When we start looking at who gets the most exposure, it’s usually white female food bloggers—and they’re getting attention for foods that aren’t necessarily authentic or native to them.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "“Black food isn’t a monolith. There are so many different aspects to Black food that people don’t know.”",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Meanwhile, Renée says, Black and other BIPOC food bloggers struggle to get that same level of recognition and, just as importantly, to land the kind of lucrative sponsorship deals that make food blogging a viable full-time career. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://eattheculture.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eat the Culture\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was created as a platform for Black food bloggers to share that kind of information with one another—a place where they could access tutorials on shooting food videos and get tips about search engine optimization. As Renée puts it, “How do we break these barriers and create our own space?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This year’s Afrofuturism-themed potluck is one of the collective’s first signature events. Renée sees it as an extension of the work of \u003ca href=\"https://savorandsage.com/\">her own blog\u003c/a>, which focuses on updating and expanding people’s definition of “soul food” to include things other than just fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. “\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Black food isn’t a monolith,” she says. “There are so many different aspects to Black food that people don’t know.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In presenting a vision for the future of Black food, several of the dishes that Eat the Culture members created for the virtual potluck explicitly challenge the idea that food with African origins isn’t “refined.” There’s a modern take on \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://thefooddisciple.com/yam-gnocchi-served-w-oxtail-pepper-soup/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">West African oxtail pepper soup\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> made with yam gnocchi, for instance, and a version of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://kennethtemple.com/smothered-okra-and-tomatoes-recipe/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">smothered okra\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that features fine dining elements like confit tomatoes and smoked sausage “dust.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13909337\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13909337\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/meikoandthedish-sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-L.jpg\" alt=\"Three portions of rice pudding served inside coconut shells, arranged on a wooden cutting board.\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/meikoandthedish-sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-L.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/meikoandthedish-sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-L-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/meikoandthedish-sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-L-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/meikoandthedish-sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-L-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/meikoandthedish-sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-L-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/02/meikoandthedish-sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-L-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Meiko and the Dish’s modern take on sombi, the Senegalese coconut rice pudding, is a commentary on gentrification. \u003ccite>(Meiko and the Dish)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Several of the recipes veganize dishes traditionally made with meat—a rebuttal, Renée says, to the notion that “Black people don’t really eat vegetables.” Others offer pointed political commentary: \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://meikoandthedish.com/sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-brulee-black-history-month-virtual-potluck/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Meiko and the Dish’s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> aforementioned coconut rice pudding adds a crème brûlée–style burnt sugar topping to a traditional Senegalese dish, thereby mirroring “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://meikoandthedish.com/sombi-brown-butter-rice-pudding-brulee-black-history-month-virtual-potluck/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the concept of gentrification, the process whereby the character of a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in and typically displacing current inhabitants in the process.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>For her own contribution to the Afrofuturism potluck, Renée did a riff on cornbread soaked in buttermilk, a very traditional, “old-school” snack that she remembers eating in her Southern grandmother’s kitchen when she was a kid. Renée’s version reimagines the treat as a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://savorandsage.com/coconut-lime-cornmeal-tres-leches-cake/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">tres leches cake\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, soaking the cornmeal cake in buttermilk, coconut milk and sweet condensed milk, then topping the whole thing with toasted coconut. The dessert is meant to feel new and modern, but it’s also a nod to the often forgotten history of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/19/afro-mexicans-census-history-identity\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mexicans of African descent\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, who have long fought for recognition in their home country.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s a combination of different cultures,” Renée says of the cake. “That’s what Afrofuturism means to me.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Throughout the month of February, Eat the Culture will highlight Afrofuturism-themed recipes on its \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/eattheculture/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instagram page\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The page will also offer details about other virtual events once they’ve been finalized, including the Cuisine Noir collaboration.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"soldout": {
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"info": "The TED Radio Hour is a journey through fascinating ideas, astonishing inventions, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ways to think and create.",
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