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    • Mar 5: Friday Night Salon with Keisha Bush
Home / Programs / Community Chats / Food as Cultural Muse: Black Culinary History & Writing with Therese Nelson

Food as Cultural Muse: Black Culinary History & Writing with Therese Nelson

Chef Therese Nelson led a conversation about Black culinary heritage and the uses of culinary heritage as fertile literary ground. She talked about recipes as an heirloom and worked through crafting a new kind of narrative recipe framework that allows for more creativity and historical context in food writing.

Therese Nelson is a chef with over 20 years of professional experience. A writer and culinary historian focusing her work on Black identity in American gastronomy, she founded BlackCulinaryHistory.com in 2008 as a way to connect chefs of color to preserve Black heritage throughout the African Atlantic culinary diaspora.

“Girls Write Now is an extraordinary organization. To conceive of a space that offers young women a practical source of tangible inspiration while making room for them to develop robust aspiration is the kind of work that changes the world. I’m in community with Girls Write Now because I know that writers have the power to define the times in which they live and I want to be part of supporting an organization charged with arming young writers with the tools they’ll need to be worthy of that responsibility.”
–Therese Nelson

GLIMPSE INTO OUR EVENT

"I watched my grandmother and father make [Louisiana Gumbo] so many times throughout my childhood that I never have to look at a recipe." —Writing 360 Mentor

"Take apples, preferably sour, preferably with a bit of dirt still on them. Cut them into the smallest pieces you can, considering that some if not most of the apples should still be fairly hard to cut into." —Writing 360 Mentee

RESOURCES

  • High On the Hog by Dr. Jessica B. Harris
    • Listen to Dr. Harris’ podcast, My Welcome Table, on Heritage Radio
  • Vibration Cooking or the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl by Vertamae Smart Grosvenor
    • Watch this excerpt of an interview with Vertamae Smart Grosvenor
  • The Jemima Code and Jubilee by Toni Tipton Martin
    • Read Therese Nelson’s article on Toni Tipton Martin, “She Rewrote the History of American Cooking”
  • Support and uplight the work of Indigo House 
    • Dr. Leni Sorensen is a culinary historian who uses her farm, Indigo House, as her historical culinary test kitchen working through indigenous and heritage growing practices and culinary techniques. She primarily focuses on early American foodways and most notably, her work at Monticello unearthed much of what we know about Black life there. Indigo House is a pilgrimage for anyone interested in American foodways and her newsletter as well as opportunities to support her scholarship can be found via the website above.

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Life Resources and Events

At Girls Write Now, we work to challenge and change the systemic racism and inequality by breaking down the barriers of race and poverty to elevate the voices of girls and gender nonconforming youth who are too often not heard—or worse, silenced. From mental and emotional wellness to advocating for racial justice, we are here to support you individually and as a community through our robust programming. Check out our calendar to see our current offerings or visit our Life Resources page to support you during this time.

Friday Night Salon with Keisha Bush

Join us on Friday, March 5, 6-7:30 PM ET for a Using the Micro to Write the Macro: Starting a Novel with Keisha Bush!

We’re Hiring!

Looking for more purpose-driven work in the new year? Check out available roles to join the team! 

GIVE. WRITE. NOW. And Thank you!!

Girls Write Now’s services are more essential than ever before—serving the hardest hit communities—and many of our young women and gender nonconforming youth have themselves become essential workers to help their families. They carry an enormous burden and face devastating loss, slipping further into poverty. To meet the need, we have enriched and extended our programs, leading the historical transition to virtual learning.

Get Involved!

Are you a licensed mental health professional who’d love to work with our community of writers and creatives? We’re seeking volunteer Wellness Advisors. Get more info & apply here!

Relive the Girls (Re)Write Now Awards

If you missed the awards, you can still watch it! Relive this revolutionary night of mini–master classes with honorees on empathy, art, activism & humor and Girls Write Now mentees on writing with purpose, climate justice & self-care. 

Writing from our Future Leaders

Taking Our Place in History: the Girls Write Now 2020 Anthology was published with support from Dutton and Amazon Literary Partnership, available for purchase from McNally Jackson Books and anywhere ebooks are sold!

Girls Write Now in the News

Girls Write Now’s work has recently been featured by the National Endowment for the Arts, Time Out New York, NYXT and more!

Girls Write Now

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