Elisha Barnes is a 4th generation peanut farmer who was born and raised in Virginia.  His legacy includes a being raised in a strong family where agriculture was centered in their life and the seeds planted are now flourishing on his own farm, Pop Son Farm. His partnership with Hubbard Peanut Company has been a game changer being a small farmer. Pop Son Farm’s peanuts are the now part of the company’s success as well as philanthropic efforts to help those who are food insecure. In this...

Michael Henderson is the founder of B.A.G. Travel or Black and Gay Travel that specializes in designing adventures for small groups to destinations around the world. The "adventure designer," began traveling more than 20 years ago, taking his first solo trip to Thailand.  After returning, he knew travel would be a way of life and over the years became a global citizen of the world, learning from each experience and people met along the way. From Thailand to South Africa, Mexico and at least...

Rachel Adjei is a chef and entrepreneur based in Toronto, Canada.  In 2020, she founded The Abibiman Project, a social enterprise venture that introduces the abundance of flavors and ingredients from the African continent and its diaspora through dishes and products created to give back to organizations serving the communities, especially residents who are food insecure. As one of Toronto’s rising stars, she is creating an impact by doing what she loves: bringing people together through...

Vernita Harris and Beatrice Moore have turned a 40-plus year friendship into a business over food. The friends met while in attending Praire View A & M University in Texas as college students and have since supported each other’s journeys through life since.  Their friendship turned into a partnership during the pandemic in 2020 when they began to create a community by sharing recipes. This led to publishing their first cookbook, ”Pinch-Dash-Done: A Gateway to Flavorful Recipes,” which...

New Jersey native Dr. Wanida Lewis founded Crescendo Foods, Ghana’s first shared kitchen coworking hub, in 2021. A food scientist by profession, Crescendo Foods’ focus is to “create a Pan-African ecosystem to celebrate culture through food as well as art.” It also serves as a safe place where innovative ideas can be nurtured. Located in the country’s capital, Accra, Dr. Lewis and her team are preparing to host participants who want to learn about African cuisine, specifically Ghana’s...

Happy Black History Month! We're going to be taking a short break this month to enjoy the work we do that centers around telling Black food stories. We'll be back on March 6 to kick off more great conversations with amazing people in food, drink and travel! Until then, be sure to catch up on episodes and visit our YouTube channel, The Global Food and Drink Initiative, to watch partial or full conversations! Be sure to also check out Cuisine Noir, our digital and print publication, for...

If you love wine and hip-hop, this is an episode you don’t want to miss.  Jermaine Stone, aka The Real Wolf of Wine, didn’t know that the goal of getting a simple office job that was part of a bigger plan to go into business would lead to traveling the world for wine. The Bronx native worked for Zachy’s, an auction house in New York, where he began to learn about wine from the operations side. As his career and knowledge expanded, he eventually became a consultant for some of the biggest...

Tunde Wey is more than an artist and writer.  He is also a cook who uses "nigerian food to interrogate colonialism, capitalism and racism," per his website. We first learned about his work when new outlets began reporting on his social projects in New Orleans that charged White people at least 2x more for plates of food as a way of discussing the wealth disparity gap in the city. But before he began cooking for people and using food to passionately advocate around issues relating to race...

Born in Somalia and raised in Italy, Chef Bashir Munye has called Toronto home for the past 22 years. Growing up in the Mediterranean, fresh seasonal foods were the norm. His approach to cooking is simple. In this episode, he talks about his brief time in Somalia before moving to Italy at five years old and assimilating to Italian culture, only to later, as an adult, find his way back to his African roots and how this shows up in this work as a chef, food advocate, and educator today.

These days, Agatha Achindu is wearing several hats as a successful entrepreneur, wellness architect, and, most recently, cookbook author. The Cameroonian author of "Bountiful Cooking," released September 2023, is also the founder of Yummy Spoonfuls, which she started in 2006 to help parents become more intentional about the foods they give their children. With an unwavering commitment to sharing her passion for healthy eating and living with others, she gives listeners a behind-the-scenes...

Switzerland and Chicago-based entrpreneurs Kudzai Bingepinge and Awa Kone sit down with host Sheree Williams for this episode of Diaspora Food Stories to talk about their business venture African Flavor Lab and their brand N/UM, African artisan salts. With roots in both Zimbabwe and Ivory Coast, the duo have uncovered one of Africa's hidden gems, salt.  Through N/Um, they are not only delivering great taste, but African culinary history in each of their five artisanal offerings.

Riaz Phillips is a multi-disciplined, award-winning writer and documenter whose passion for food from the Caribbean and Black food culture in the U.K., has taken readers on a journey from the vibrant streets of London, the immigrant settlings around the U.K., and to the corners of the Caribbean. His deep-rooted connection to his Caribbean heritage has enabled him to seek out the often-untold stories and bring them to a new audience, through in-depth essays, reporting, activism, film,...

Recorded on August 31, which has been designated by the United Nations as the International Day for People of African descent, host Sheree Williams connects with Canadian urban farmer Anan Lololi to talk about his work around Black food sovereignty in Toronto. Born and raised in Guyana, Anan moved to Toronto as a muscian, playing for one of the city's top reggae group Truths & Right before deciding to go back to school and study business.  Anan soon found himself in the food world,...

L’animatrice invitée Madalena Pedro Miala rejoint Diaspora Food Stories pour cet épisode spécial mettant en vedette le chef et restaurateur Pierre Thiam. Né et élevé au Sénégal, le chef Pierre est connu dans le monde entier pour son travail de promotion des ingrédients et des cuisines d’Afrique de l’Ouest, ainsi que pour l’introduction du ‘fonio’, des céréales anciennes aux papilles gustatives Occidentaux.  Au cours de cette conversation, Madalena revisite son enfance, son arrivée aux...

Guest host Madalena Pedro Miala is joining Diaspora Food Stories for this special episode featuring chef and restauranteur Pierre Thiam. Born and raised in Senegal, Chef Pierre is known around the world for his work in championing West African ingredients and cuisines as well as introducing the ancient grain fonio to Western palates.  During this conversation, Madalena revisits his childhood, arrival into the U.S. and his humble culinary beginning before fast forwarding to the success he...

Suzanne Barr is one of Toronto's praised chefs for her culinary creativity and passion for the industry.  Born in Toronto and raised in Plantation, Florida, Suzanne later returned to Canada as a chef, opening her first restaurant Kithen Dinette, followed by Kid Chocolate with her husband.   After closing both restaurants, she went on to pursue other projects including a chef-in-residence stint at the Gladstone Hotel and in 2022, she released her first book, "My Ackee Tree: A Chef's Memoir of...

For this episode, host Sheree Williams is reuniting with chef Nigel Spence, owner of Ripe Kitchen & Bar in Mount Vernon, NY. Since first interviewing him for Cuisine Noir in 2010, Chef Nigel has continued to deliver an authentic Jamaican experience for everyone coming through his restaurant's doors. The celebrated New York chef has just added a few new menu items to his newly rennovated restaurant that is well-known among neighbors and fellow Caribbeans. In this episode, he is sharing...

Kara Johnson grew up surrounded by amazing cuisine, music, art and architecture in the historical city of New Orleans. She also grew up surrounded by women who made every day magical in the kitchen. The entrepreneur is the founder of The Cook Shop, a delicious line of Creole and Cajun seasonings named after the restaurant her great, great grandmother owned in the early 1900s.  She is sharing her story about how cherished traditions inspired her to share her family's legacy with others.

Olympian, Wall Street veteran, author and philanthropist Idara Otu is also adding entrepreneur to her list of accolades as the founder of NŌK CHOC, a premium vegan hot cocoa company that sources its ingredients from West Africa. In this episode, Idara shares her journey as a first generation Nigerian growing up in New York and her educational journey that took her to Stanford University where she ran track and eventually competed on the 2012 Nigerian track and field team during the...

Desde Portugal a Colombia, regresamos con otro asombroso episodio multilingual que le hará parar lo que estás haciendo para escuchar. La presentadora invitada Lisa Marie Zapata está en conversación con Liseth Martinez, encargada de mercadeo y promoción de la bebida ancestral Viché Canao. Con sus raíces culturales bien puestas y un sentido de lucha para combatir la erradicación de industrias Afro-Colombianas, Liseth cree en la importancia de preservar y recuperar conocimientos ancestrales...

From Portugal to Colombia, we're back with another amazing multilingual podcast episode that you’ll have to stop what you are doing and listen. Guest host Lisa Marie Zapata is in conversation with Liseth Martinez, who oversees marketing and branding for the ancestral drink and brand Viche Canao. With a strong sense of cultural roots and a fighting mentality to stop the eradication of industries Afro-Colombian communities, she believes in the importance of preserving and recovering...

We all need at least one homegirl in our lives who we can talk to about anything and also make sure we have some good food. Our homegirl for this episode is Niehla Olllie, a Chicago entrepreneur who is also the founder of Homegirl’s Hummus. Before making hummus herself, she remembers one particular vendor at a market in Milwaukee and the taste of that green hummus she purchased regularly never left her mind or taste buds.  After deciding to make her own version and raving about good it was,...

Born and raised in the Republic of Congo, Victoire left the country at the age of 20 after receiving a visa to live in Italy.  It was there that she found her passion for cooking and embarked on an amazing culinary career that includes opening her own restaurant in Milan and competing on Bravo's "Top Chef Italy," and "Top Chef World All-Stars." In sharing her story, she is very candid about how the challenges of war in Congo as well as being an African immigrant in Italy pushed her to...

Aprille Thomas heads up the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) Public Relations Department, overseeing all PR efforts for the U.S., Canada, U.K., Latin America and the Caribbean, along with corporate communications for the organization. Aprille joined BTMI after leading on PR strategy at the five-diamond Sandy Lane Hotel, and later helping Canadian fashion brand Joe Fresh expand internationally into Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Korea, Mexico and the Philippines.  Prior to her PR career,...