Episode 70: Soul Food Sessions Pt. 1

Today’s show is going to be a series of interviews from the Soul Food Sessions dinner which was held at the James Beard Foundation house in Manhattan earlier this month. Soul Food Sessions is a dinner series that started in Charlotte, North Carolina as a way to acknowledge and support people of color in the culinary arts, restaurant and hospitality industries, and beverage services. Chefs Jamie Barnes and Greg Williams of What the Fries, Michael Bowling of Hot Box Next Level Kitchen, Gregory and Subrina Collier of The Yolk, Jamie Turner of Jamie's Cakes & Classes, Justin Hazelton of SB&J Enterprises, and friend of the show, Omar Tate were part of the dinner and each made a course for the evening. The name of the series hints at what the founders want guests to experience: dishes that act as an exploration of what we think of as soul food and pushing the boundaries on that definition. Dishes like pork pate with apple buttermilk and warm farro salad with smoked peaches ask what is soul food and what isn’t it? Who cooks it and who doesn’t? If a chef is black is what they’re cooking automatically soul food? Before the dinner service I asked the Soul Food Sessions chefs these questions.