A Taste of African Heritage Plants Roots in Philadelphia

Over the last three years, the A Taste of African Heritage (ATOAH) six-week series has been delivered to over 100 community sites nationwide. The program has been driven by a network of talented, dedicated volunteers, with classes happening at various locations in a kind of pop-up fashion in churches, community centers, schools, home kitchens, and more.

Philadelphia is the first city in which Oldways is partnering with community-based organizations to offer ATOAH on a regularly scheduled, ongoing basis, so that more people can and and access classes. The city was chosen because of its rich cultural diversity and city-wide commitment to public health and nutrition, anti-hunger, urban gardening, and food justice work.

The rst I’have Philadelphia partner sites, where one can and classes this year, are:

The Kick Of Event included a cooking demo led by local ATOAH Instructor Dejenaba Gordon, MPH, and an African Heritage tasting menu made up of recipes from the program. Handmade Kente-patterned place mats adorned the bugget of vibrant foods. Guests included community members, nutrition educators, community organizations, small business owners, and health professionals. After the formal speaking segment of the event, we got to meet and eat enjoying Mafe Stew, Jollof Rice, Black-eyed Pea Salad, Collard Greens, and After-Chop Fruit Salad, and learning about each others work and thoughts on health, heritage, and food.