African Heritage & Health Week: How Will You Celebrate

As you hang up your fresh 2014 calendar, be sure to mark February 1^st 7^th to celebrate African Heritage & Health Week!

Oldways created African Heritage & Health Week to offer a deliciously meaningful start to Black History Month. During AH&H Week, Oldways invites everyone everywhere to try at least one new African heritage dish either at home or at an African heritage restaurant. It’s a time to taste some exciting new foods and flavors, like Ethiopian curries, Caribbean jerk cuisine, or West African yams, to rediscover traditional healthy foods and cuisines of African American ancestors from around the world.

Last year, people celebrated African Heritage & Health Week in many unique ways. Individuals presented the African Heritage Diet to their churches and workplaces. Others included African Heritage Diet materials at Black History Month events in their communities. Chefs used Oldways recipes in commemorative cooking demos. And, Oldways hosted an African Heritage & Health Week Potluck in Austin, TX.

This year, we have over thirty A Taste of African Heritage cooking classes planned for February 2014. These classes will take place in different locations all over the country. Contact Sarah McMackin, [email protected], to and out if there’s a class happening near you!

Along with joining us for a cooking class, here are some other ways that you can celebrate African Heritage & Health Week:

• Cook up one new African heritage dish at home! We have lots of African heritage recipes in our Oldways recipe bank, like our Yuca Fries and Black-eyed-Pea Salad. We also have an A Taste of African Heritage Pinterest Page with over 1,000 followers sharing their favorite African heritage recipes.
• Dive into exotic flavors at an African heritage restaurant near you! Whether Senegalese, Jamaican, or Ethiopian, African heritage restaurants often offer loads of interesting plant-based dishes, preparing various veggies, beans, whole grains, and spices in dramatically new ways. Fritters, plantains, perfectly cooked greens, tangy marinades and relishes, fresh fish and seafood, and aromatic grains star on African heritage plates. To help you and a place nearby, we’ve designed our Dine Around Town page, which lists African heritage restaurants state to state. (If you are familiar with or have a favorite African restaurant you dont see on our Dine Around, let us know and we are happy to add it to the list.)
• Organize an African Heritage & Health Week Potluck! Invite family and friends over to share a feast of African heritage dishes. If you go by the pyramid, your table will be covered in fresh leafy greens, herb-infused veggies, whole grains, beans, fruits, and spices galore. Assign different dishes to everyone, and unite around the table for a gathering of health-promoting, historic foods.
• Share the African Heritage Diet in your community! Order a free African Heritage Diet Pyramid poster or a bundle of brochures to help spread the message of health through heritage in your church, at your workplace, at your school, or in your community. Email Sarah McMackin for this special order, [email protected].
• Send us pictures! We’ve created an African Heritage & Health Week Photo Gallery to share your culinary creations, yummy menu choices, and how you and your family celebrated the week. Send your photos to Sarah McMackin, [email protected] to add to the page!

We can’t wait to celebrate African Heritage & Health Week with new recipes and dishes bursting with flavors, nutrients and African roots.

How will you celebrate

-Sarah