How to Celebrate Juneteenth

As of June 17, 2021, the U.S. Congress approved a new bill recognizing Juneteenth as a federal holiday. This is a huge milestone for all communities based in the U.S. of African (American) heritage. Why is Juneteenth significant? This holiday recognizes the freedom of enslaved people of African descent in Texas. It took nearly two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation for the freedom news to travel to Galveston, Texas. The union soldiers arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865.

Read and Listen to African Culinary Chefs and Historians

Read Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora (2021) by Bryant Terry a James Beard Award-winning cookbook author. He also wrote Vegetable Kingdom: The Abundant World of Vegan Recipes (2020) and Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh African, Caribbean and Southern Flavors Remixed. We recently had a conversation on Black Food with Bryant Terry this past fall and wrote a blog post on vegetable kingdom!

Listen to Black Food Folks and the founder of Black Culinary History Therese Nelson present a limited-time podcast series focusing on the work of Black pastry chefs. The series features a diverse collection of bakers, chocolatiers, chefs, and educators. It highlights the historic significance of Black chefs and creatives thus focusing on their careers in the dessert world. Watch our conversation with Therese.

Enroll in Michael Twitty‘s author of The Cooking Gene new MASTER class, which focuses on “Tracing Your Roots Through Food”. This course invites people to explore the ingredients from their kitchen-then re-create the heritage foods that helped shape their African lineage. Here’s the trailer video: MasterClass

Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations” by Nicole Taylor. We recommend supporting any local or POC-owned bookstore to purchase “Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations” cookbook. See our conversation with Nicole Taylor below!

What to Watch this Month

In honor of our Juneteenth celebration, we had an amazing conversation with Nicole Taylor, the James Beard Award-nominated food writer, master home cook, producer, and cookbook author of “Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations“. We welcome you to watch this insightful sneak-peek discussion regarding the first-ever Juneteenth summer-loving cookbook.

Rewatch our June 1st Caribbean Heritage Month cooking demo and Interview with Five Loaves & Two Fish Healthy Teaching Kitchen (@52htk). This small but mighty organization offers custom nutrition programs catered toward chronic disease management and is partnered with the CDC National Diabetes Prevention Program. Find the 4 plant-based recipes they prepared below:

Featured Recipes:

Pumpkin Sweet Potato Soup

Passion Fruit and Guava Sorbet

Mixed Greens Salad

Orange Carrot and Ginger Juice

Lastly, you must watch the Netflix’s 4-part docuseries, High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America, which provides a history lesson on African American resilience in the kitchen. It was adapted from Oldways African Heritage and Health Advisory Board Member, Dr. Jessica B. Harris’ book, High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America. We Recommend watching the fourth episode from season 1 called “Freedom”, which features black cowboys, Barbecued brisket meats, Senegalese lamb, and of course southern Juneteenth festivities. We also wrote a blog post about the entire series, if you would like to learn more.

Here’s a photo of Oldways African Heritage coordinator with the featured High on the Hog cowboy Larry Callies founder of the first Black Cowboy Museum and Author of “Here Comes Cowboy Larry, Stepping Out In Faith” from this year’s 2022 Houston Rodeo!

Upcoming Events

Travel with us and experience the Low Country region in November 2022 with Chef Jennifer Booker, BJ Dennis, and Oldways. Rediscover Gullah Geechee food, culture, and history. You’ll want to join us for this food and history-focused, week-long culinary tour in South Carolina and Northern Georgia’s Low Country.