Tonya Hopkins and Kenya Parham have some delicious suggestions. They are the creators of a new online miniseries for the Food Network called "The Kwanzaa Menu." And you two know one another.
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Through conversations with experts like Twitty, Mitchell, and culinary historian Tonya Hopkins, the episode explores the extractive nature of the modern food industry and how white chefs and high-end restaurants often overshadow Black culinary history. While the African Runner Peanut’s story is one of cultural and historical importance, it’s also a story of economic and racial disparity. How do we grapple with the broader implications of reviving lost crops and whether our methods are truly equitable?
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Celebrating Kwanzaa matches my “more is more” holiday mindset: more opportunities to connect with family and friends, more chances to discover diaspora dishes, and more reasons to innovate with interesting ingredients. From December 26 to January 1, each day is anchored in one of the holiday’s seven principles (unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith), offering meaningful ways to sustain seasonal vibes for a full week.
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Shortly after learning that a friend and colleague’s home was engulfed in flames and reduced to embers by the LA County Eaton Fire (that ravaged the Pasadena and Altadena communities), I saw this set of resources thoughtfully and expediently compiled in a SPILL post…
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FOOD & WINE Magazine’s special Holiday Double Issue (Dec2024 -Jan2025) celebrates“Holidays Around The World…” and serves up “11 Delicious Ways o Celebrate This Holiday Season” via a range of deliciously diverse recipes & personal essays. The piece I wrote is called: “Kwanzaa: Seven Days of Celebration Offer Endless Opportunities for Connection and Creativity” which you’ll find on pages 184 - 185 in the print edition and/or you can read it ONLINE with the title of: "“How I Use Kwanzaa's Seven Principles to Transform My Holiday Cooking…” by Tonya Hopkins, aka The Food Griot, for FOOD & WINE Magazine….
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Williams, better known as Chef Stikxz, the second part of which is a name conferred unto her during her childhood because of her small stick-like frame, is doubling down on a holiday tradition inherited from her Jamaican-born parents. She does so while preparing two meals, directing kitchen colleagues and answering questions from a witty journalist.
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Have you immersed yourself yet in the enchanting world of "Chasing Flavor with Carla Hall" that’s streaming on MAX?!
If you haven’t then it’s time to join Chef Carla Hall, acclaimed chef and arguably America’s fave food TV personality — as she globe trots to uncover the various roots of many iconic American dishes on a delectable journey in her new show called "Chasing Flavor!” available on HBO’s MAX …
There are 6 episodes total and and yours truly shows up in one (ok, TWO! ;) of ‘em... Nope I won’t tell you which ones so just plan to binge watch ‘em all — and get ready for a bunch of multi-sensory treats you’ll immensely enjoy! Carla's effervescent energy and genuine passion for the foods and the people she encounters…
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Tonya Hopkins and Kenya Parham have some delicious suggestions. They are the creators of a new online miniseries for the Food Network called "The Kwanzaa Menu." And you two know one another.
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It seems only natural that Food Network chose Hopkins, who wrote the Kwanzaa entry in the Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, to host its first show focused on Kwanzaa, the annual celebration held Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 that recognizes African-American traditions and cultural heritage.
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Okra, an edible green seed pod of West African origin, is a staple of the American diet and base ingredient for many dishes that make up Black foodways. It is believed to have arrived to the Americas through African women who wove it into their braided hair before they were brought into the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
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“I think I might have been the only African American person here, and that’s not unusual,” said Tonya Hopkins, a food writer and TV personality known as the Food Griot.
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Like the carrot cake, this was inhaled and the bottle empty by the end of the night. Culinary historian Tonya Hopkins was at my house watching the enthusiasm for it; she suggests mixing the whiskey with grape juice or rosé to make a spirited version of PB&J.
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The Kwanzaa Menu is hosted by Tonya Hopkins aka The Food Griot and features delicious “Afro-futuristic” recipes she created to share for celebrating the principles of the holiday…
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Tonya Hopkins, aka “The Food Griot,” is a show host, legacy cook, drink designer, culinary history consultant and now host of new series, The Kwanzaa Menu, premiering Monday, Dec. 26 on FoodNetwork.com.
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Food Network is getting into the holiday spirit with its first Kwanzaa series, set to highlight the food and history of the annual seven-day celebration.
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Black culinary innovators have brought us the likes of the ice cream scooper, fruit juicer, keg tapper and many more with the foundation of the American food and beverage industry coming from the “brawn and brilliance” of Black Americans, culinary historian and WURD Radio host Tonya Hopkins a.k.a The Food Griot, told The Plug.
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On this week’s episode of Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio, they’re diving into the foods of summer.
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“Ice cream is one of those supercalifragilistic, whitewashed things where they wrote Black people out of the history,” says Tonya Hopkins, aka The Food Griot, a food historian in New York. “Before there were mechanical ice cream makers, Black people were literally the ice cream makers.”
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I had a wonderful time and Tonya lives up to her "griot" name as a fantastic storyteller. Although Tonya has not yet written her own book, she has contributed to numerous scholarly publications. She is also co-founder of the James Hemings Foundation, named after Thomas Jefferson's enslaved, French-trained chef de cuisine, and consultant on the upcoming exhibit at MOFAD, "African/American: Making the Nation's Table.
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