Black Foodie Week – Taste of the Diaspora

BY NOEL CUNNINGHAM

From September 20^th to September 27^th, Black Foodie hosted its first Black Foodie Week (BFW). This weeklong event hosted on blackfoodie.co and via Black Foodie social media channels, gave foodies the chance to taste the diaspora without leaving the city.

This virtual event was dedicated to celebrate the black food culture from around the world. The event was curated and hosted by the founder of Black Foodie, Eden Hagos, who is a celebrated host and food writer. Let me tell you if you are a foodie and you are on Instagram, I am sure you are familiar with Black Foodie. But just in case you don’t know, I got you covered. Black Foodie is a versatile media platform dedicated to exploring food and culture through a black lens.

“As a brand, our focus is to develop opportunities for black creatives in food media by amplifying black stories and experiences, and advocating for better representation and treatment.” Eden Hagod

Black Foodie Week (BFW) offered and showed Torontonians many ways to discover the diversity and creativity within the city’s black culinary scene. Throughout the week, gourmands and foodies were invited to visit and support black-owned restaurants and businesses and help build the black food scene in Toronto. This couldn’t happen at a better time when most black businesses are affected by the Pandemic.

“As the city reopens and regains some of its liveliness and vibrancy, we must ensure that black chefs, black-owned restaurants, and black culinary creatives are receiving the support they need,” states Ellen Asiedu, Strategy Lead at Black Foodie. “This carries even more weight when thinking of the moment we’re currently living in.”

Black Foodie Week demystified African and Caribbean cuisine, and more importantly, expanded the public’s understanding of their depth and complexity. Each day featured interactive segments profiling prominent black chefs, restaurants, and food entrepreneurs in Toronto, through various digital content pieces like: cook-along, drink and learn, panel discussions with chefs, restaurateurs, food experts, and influencers.

Notable event guests include Chef Suzanne Barr, Chef Adrian Forte, Paul Taylor of FoodShareTO, and Leticia Deawuo of Black Creek Farms.

The week-long event started on Sunday, September 20^th, 2020, with a panel discussion titled ‘The Future of Black Food Culture’ featuring Leticia Daewuo (Executive Director of Black Creek Community Farm), Paul Taylor (Executive Director of Foodshare Toronto), Chef Bashir Munye (Culinary Professor), and Eden Hagos who is the food diva behind Black Foodie and a celebrated food writer. This event explored the connection between culture, climate and community.

Viewers had the chance to cook and sip along with some of Toronto’s top black chefs.

On Monday we took a trip to the Bahamas with Celebrity Chef and Cookbook Author Raquel Fox, hosted by Jam Gamble. Tuesday, we had a sample of Somalia with Chef Bashir Munye.

Then on Wednesday, I took everyone to Jamaica for Savour Jamaica. Then there was a Toronto Black Restaurateurs panel discussion featuring: Chef Suzanne Barr, Carl Cassell, Ryan Hinkson, and Tayo Bero. The session discussed the barriers to success for black restaurateurs in Toronto. They also gave solid advice to upcoming restaurateurs on how to thrive in what often feels like a saturated market.

On Thursday we explored Trinidad & Tobago with Chris De La Rosa, then a Taste Nigeria with Princess Oroma. There is no event without some good drinks, so we had a Pour It Up session with Chef Adrian Forte, Cocktails for the Culture with Christina Veira and a Welcome Home with Mofer Coffee.

Black Veganism held on September 26^th, 2020 titled “Past, Present, and Future,” featuring: Abena Offeh-Gyimah, Afia Amoako, Joe Guild Thomas, and Randell Adjei. This event was curated to give the black vegan in Toronto a space to highlight and share ways that Afro-Caribbean diets can be easily adjusted to include more plant-based elements to our diet.

As Eden Hagos, Founder of Black Foodie, explains, “Black chefs and black food culture have been erased from mainstream culinary culture despite the creativity, versatility, rich history they both embody. We want this campaign to drive the general public into black-owned restaurants to taste the diaspora, and help make Toronto a must-visit city to experience black food culture.”

Black Foodie Week is proudly supported by: The City of Toronto, Interac, Skip the Dishes, the Culinary Tourism Alliance, and Restaurants of Canada. You can catch repeats of these sessions on the blackfoodie.co website or visit their Facebook and instagram @blackfood.co.