Meet Bryant Terry, Award-Winning Chef and Educator

San Mateo County Libraries welcomes Bryant Terry on Monday, March 14 at 6:30 PM. He will discuss his newest book Black Food: Stories, Art and Recipes From Across the African Diaspora before taking questions from the audience.

Register here to receive your Zoom invitation and information on how to obtain a giveaway copy of Black Food!  Purchase a copy of Black Food through the Foundation for San Mateo County Libraries.

In Black Food, James Beard Award-winning chef and educator Bryant Terry explores Black foodways within America and around the world. Original essays, poetry, recipes and art from over 100 Black cultural luminaries from across the globe capture the broad and divergent voices of the African Diaspora through the prism of food.

The recipes include sentimental favorites and fresh takes, such as Crispy Cassava Skillet Cakes from Yewande Komolafe, Jerk Chicken Ramen from Suzanne Barr, Avocado and Mango Salad with Spicy Pickled Carrot and Rof Dressing from Pierre Thiam, and Sweet Potato Pie from Jenné Claiborne. As much a joyful celebration of Black culture as a cookbook, Black Food explores the interweaving of food, experience and community in a visual and spiritual feast that will satisfy any soul.

Praise for Bryant Terry

Bryant Terry is the author of Afro-Vegan and Vegetable Kingdom. He is renowned for his activism and efforts to create a healthy, equitable and sustainable food system. He is currently the chef-in-residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, where he creates programming that celebrates the intersection of food, farming, health, activism, art, culture and the African Diaspora. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, CBS This Morning and on NPR's All Things Considered.

Mouthwatering, visually stunning, and intoxicating, Black Food tells a global story of creativity, endurance, and imagination that was sustained in the face of dispersal, displacement, and oppression. — Imani Perry, Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University

The book reveals the importance of food and community from diverse perspectives and encompasses Black cuisines from the Caribbean, the U.S., and across the African continent. And while cooking is central throughout, Black Food also sheds light on such issues as land access, spirituality, and the meaning of migratory patterns—chosen and unchosen. — Wall Street Journal

This collection of essays, visual art, playlists, poems, and recipes commissioned and curated from more than 100 chefs and spirits experts, artists, scholars, activists, journalists, and leaders feels like a holy pursuit for Terry in its faithful documentation of the rites, rituals, and history of the nourishment of Black bodies, minds, and spirits, as well as a pulpit from which to share the gospel of self and community care. But unlike an ecclesiastical relic—hidebound, carved in stone, set out of reach—Terry means this book to be a living, evolving thing, accessible to all. — Food & Wine