Four recipes to honour Black heritage

From their Jewish ribs and a Californian rack of lamb to Ethiopian-inspired salmon and New Orleans’ yakamein, four acclaimed Black chefs are heating up kitchens across the US.

When it comes to Black cuisine, many typically think only of the soul food dishes hailing from the US South, like barbecue, macaroni cheese and sweet potato pie. However, in truth, it’s as diverse as any other cuisine, with many different variations and evolutions across the country. Not to mention that each chef brings to it their own personal history and interpretations, creating endless, delicious possibilities.

While Tanya Holland has Southern roots, dishes featured in her recent cookbook, California Soul, reflect the creative farm-to-table ethos of her adopted home of northern Californian. New York-based Marcus Samuelsson combines his Ethiopian and Swedish heritage into contemporary fusion recipes at his new Manhattan restaurant, Hav & Mar. In her new cookbook, Toya Boudy, shows a lesser-known side to New Orleans with her take on a comforting-yet-spicey noodle dish with Asian influence. Author and food historian Michael Twitty delves deep into the complexities of African Atlantic foodways in Koshersoul, his latest book exploring US, African and Jewish Ashkenazi traditions, while combining them in new ways.

One thing all these acclaimed US chefs seem to have in common is that they deeply value hospitality and enjoy sharing their culture with others through their food.

(Credit: Sam Hanna)

Yakamein: A New Orleans’ noodle soup
By Toya Boudy

It’s a comforting bowl filled with spicy noodles steeped in beef or chicken broth, Worcestershire and soy sauce, ketchup, and sometimes, hot sauce.

(Credit: Aubrie Pick)

(Credit: Aubrie Pick)

Grilled lamb with collard-almond pesto
By Tanya Holland

In her newest cookbook, US celebrity chef Tanya Holland adds a California twist to dishes made with ingredients generally associated with African Americans, such as collard greens.

(Credit: Hav & Mar)

(Credit: Hav & Mar)

Swediopian: Berbere-cured salmon
By Marcus Samuelsson and Fariyal Abdullahi

In the Swediopian, a signature dish at Hav & Mar, celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson blends his Swedish and Ethiopian heritage, reflecting a contemporary expression of Black cuisine.

(Credit: Eliot Stein/BBC World's Table)

(Credit: Eliot Stein/BBC World’s Table)

Yiddishe Ribbenes (grilled Jewish ribs)
By Michael Twitty

Award-winning author Michael Twitty blends African Atlantic flavours with Jewish foodways, incorporating surprising ingredients like horseradish, ginger, cinnamon and paprika.

BBC.com’s World’s Table “smashes the kitchen ceiling” by changing the way the world thinks about food, through the past, present and future.

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