Race and Food Culture - Food Matters February 2016

It was on Feb. 1, 1865, that President Abraham Lincoln signed a joint congressional resolution proposing a 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would abolish slavery. In 1942, Richard Wright a former slave and Wharton Business school graduate lobbied Congress to establish a national holiday to be held on Feb. 1 each year. in 1948, Harry Truman signed the law establishing the Holiday.

How to Talk About Race Through Food

Michael Twitty (pictured above) is a culinary historian who is, in no particular order, Orthodox-Jewish, African-American, and gay. Twitty puts on historical dinners at former plantations throughout the south highlighting the black slaves' formidable role in developing classic american cooking. “I’m using food as a way to discuss race as a person of color,” Twitty says. “There’s a gentleman’s agreement in the South that is, ‘Don’t talk about race.’ We can talk about Jesus and football, and even food, but don’t talk about that.” Munchies, March 2015

See Twitty's interesting video discussing his programs.


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