DC Food Culture and the African Diaspora

On November 10th, Slow Food DC board member Mark Haskell curated and moderated a virtual Humanitini panel discussion about our DC food roots and culture. The 90-minute event, entitled Our Newest Roots joining the Mother Roots, explored how new African influences are affecting our established African roots.

The panelists included experts from various parts of our food system: Dr. Psyche Williams Forson, Chair of the American Studies Department at the University of Maryland.; Xavier Brown of Soilful City & Black Dirt Farm Collective; and Nana Ama Afari-Dwamena, co-founder of Dine Diaspora.

The panelists presented a bit of background, then discussed a rich variety of topics from the historic mother food roots of enslaved Africans around the Chesapeake Bay region to modern issues facing black farmers and food access inequality. The panel also discussed the changing DC food culture as it continues to be influenced by new arrivals from Africa and the diaspora — a large and important topic for our ever evolving regional foodways.

The event was made possible with through grant from Humanities DC and the support of the DC Commission of the Arts. Though in the past Humanitini talks were presented in restaurants, cafes, and event spaces throughout DC, due to COVID-19 concerns Slow Food DC was proud to host the first virtual event in the series. Though virtual, it was still a slow food event, so as part of the event some viewers chose to enjoy takeout food and drink specials from African-influenced, DC-area restaurants, including Cane, Ben’s Next Door, and Bukkom Cafe.

If you missed the event, you can watch it here (passcode is S$UE98n$). And in case you want to pick up some delicious, African-inspired food and drink to enjoy while you learn, you might consider takeout from Cane (featuring multicultural dishes from Trinidad & Tabago), Ben’s (home to DC’s “signature” half smoke), or Bukkom (includes dishes from around West Africa).