Tonya Hopkins, a.k.a “The Food Griot” is a Culinary History Consultant, Wine & Spirits Storyteller, Cocktail Cognoscenti and Provider of Nonfiction Food & Drink Narratives Across Many Mediums.
This long weekend tune in to hear MILK STREET Radio’s replay of their (start of) SUMMER SHOW featuring yours truly, Tonya Hopkins (aka @TheFoodGriot) talking with show creator and host Christopher Kimball as we dive into the foods of summer. In our convo I give him (and therefore ya’ll) the scoop 🍨 on the Black innovators who made America’s ice cream 🍦industry what it is today….
Also in this. episode: somebody named Bill Alexander reveals the history and fate of the tomato 🍅 and artist Ana Inciardi tracks down a tomato from her family's past; …Dan Pashman gives a lesson on his favorite ways to eat watermelon and corn; and then they bake up a Fresh Peach and Raspberry Crostata….ENJOY!
This April 2024 calendar collage gives you just a glimpse of some of the food, drink, cultural, historical and sometimes personal “holidays” happening this month that I think are interesting and suspect you will too. Especially if I happen to have taken good pics relevant to the topic or in some cases have a boatload of food or beverage beauty shots I snapped and saved over the years and wanna show 'em off (i mean SHARE them ;) with you for the visual side of the storytelling. On a more serious note, I check a lot of sources to compile this TFG calendar and am more often than not startled by the blatant “lies of omission” so many mainstream ‘daily holiday’ calendar platforms perpetuate. Outright exclusions of entire cultures, ethnicities, historical facts! ... serving up only slivers of the story. Which is a big part of my motivation for doing this one…
March's 2024 DAILY "TFG Culinary & Cultural Calendar" is in progress. It takes a lot of time and resources to create an ongoing interactive Calendar featuring all the fab foodie reasons to celebrate something (almost) very single day. Which is why i’m always encouraging people to support via my Patreon to help speed things up 😆… + it would also help to know if ANYBODY s utilizing this fun interactive tool & in what ways if so! LEAVE a COMMENT or DM me TO LET A SISTA KNOW, THANKS!
“We Rise By Lifting Others!” so Let’s Rise Up to that Challenge b/c Bonbon Lakay Needs (Y)OUR Support Now More Than Ever. Check out their Pay It Forward initiative for win-win ways to help not only this wonderful specialty foods shop but also the many communities it benefits beyond just the neighborhood where it’s based…
Black / African-American music has had the most profound impact on music the world over. With that in mind, last June (Black Music Month) on my weekly radio show “Savory & Sweet…” I featured my brilliant wine work colleague/co-worker “AK” — aka Akinsheye Brunson, who shared how Hip Hop helped him carve out a career path in the wine world, and how music & wine connects us to ourselves — and to each other.
