AFRICAN/AMERICAN: MAKING THE NATION'S TABLE Extended at the Museum of Food and Drink

The Museum of Food and Drink, in partnership with The Africa Center, today announced a one-month extension of its exhibition African/American: Making the Nation's Table, now on view through July 17 at the newly-constructed home of The Africa Center at Aliko Dangote Hall (1280 5th Avenue, New York). New summer hours begin today: Thursday - Sunday from 11am to 6pm.

Produced by MOFAD and curated by Dr. Jessica B. Harris-the acclaimed culinary historian and author whose book High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America inspired the 2021 Netflix documentary series of the same name-with the input of over 30 visionaries within the Black American culinary landscape, African/American is a first-of-its-kind exhibition celebrating the countless contributions of Black chefs, farmers, and food and drink producers who have laid the foundation for American food culture. The project seeks, in its immersiveness and historic scope, to offer a portrait of the immense breadth of African American traditions and innovations in cooking. Since opening in February, African American has garnered acclaim from The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, CBS Sunday Morning, TheGrio, Cuisine Noir, and many others.

The centerpiece of the exhibition, the Legacy Quilt-illustrated by Adrian Franks and designed, pieced, and quilted by artists Laura R. Gadson, Sylvia Hernandez, and Ife Felix of arts and cultural organization Harlem Needle Arts using period-appropriate fabrics and featuring blurbs on each block by writer Osayi Endolyn-depicts, through traditions stitched together and interconnected across the Diaspora, space, and time, a selection of hundreds among countless stories that deserve recognition. This awe-inspiring artifact stands 14 feet tall and nearly 28 feet wide. The Legacy Quilt also includes an interactive, virtual experience whereby people can submit their own stories of African American culinary heroes to add-emphasizing that these culinary histories are not finite, that the work of documenting and celebrating them is ongoing.

Visitors are then carried through four centuries of influence on agriculture, culinary arts, brewing and distilling, and commerce. The movement of people-whether enslaved Africans across the Atlantic or over six million Black Americans from the South to the North during the Great Migration-and in turn, their food traditions across place and time, is a central theme of the exhibition.

While the Legacy Quilt offers a breathtaking panorama, the Ebony Magazine Test Kitchen-saved from wreckage thanks to preservationists at Landmarks Illinois and accessible to the public for the first time in history-offers immersion into a specific institution (and its vivid, Afro-Modernist aesthetic representation of its historic moment) that served as a culinary touchstone for more than two generations of African Americans. Described by The Chicago Tribune as "the most distinctive test kitchen ever created," it was the site where recipes from Ebony food editors-from oyster gumbo to sweet potato pudding-came together for the iconic "A Date With A Dish" column. The multisensory experience features a soul-stirring soundtrack curated by musician, farmer, and chef Kelis, and video interviews with former Ebony food editors.

To broaden the experience of the Ebony Magazine Test Kitchen, MOFAD has worked with Meta to bring the famed kitchen into the metaverse via augmented reality. Meta enlisted Black interactive designer Charles 'Ceej' Johnson to create the AR effects, developed on Meta's Spark AR platform. To experience a piece of the exhibition in augmented reality, head over to MOFAD's Facebook and Instagram. Another central element is a dynamic digital interactive project that uses iconic dishes to unlock informative, animated maps.

Summoning the complexities and movements, struggles and joys of these culinary histories through food, the exhibition also features to-go shoebox lunches (available for an additional fee)-recalling the meals African American train travelers packed in shoeboxes during the Great Migration, as they were often refused service. These tastings are developed by renowned chefs Carla Hall, Chris Scott, Adrienne Cheatham, Tanya Holland, and Kwame Onwuachi, all advisors on the exhibition. BEM | books & more, a bookstore at the intersection of food and Blackness, co-founded by sisters Danielle Davenport and Gabrielle Davenport, hosts a "pop-up museum shop" on site as well.

Tickets for African/American are available for purchase at mofad.org. Thanks to the generous support of Judy Gibbons and Francesco Scattone and Turner Construction Company, MOFAD is offering a free community membership, providing free access to the exhibition for residents living in the six ZIP codes surrounding The Africa Center.

Summer happenings at African/American include:

The Museum Mile Festival: As part of this annual festival, which offers free admission to some of the world's finest art collections during extended evening hours, MOFAD and The Africa Center are making admission to African/American free from 6-9pm on Tuesday, June 14.

Juneteenth: With support from The Association for a Better New York, Fresh Direct, and Delta Airlines, African/American will remain open and free to the public from 4-8pm. Attendees can grab a special Juneteenth Shoebox Lunch prepared by Harlem's own Chef Lexis and support local East Harlem vendors outside at 110th and Duke Ellington Circle.

Thanks to a generous donation by Amazon, classrooms and camp groups from Title I schools can now visit African/American for free. Children will learn about the history of African American food and how that legacy impacts the foods they love to eat today (mac and cheese! ice cream!), how rice is hulled, and how to make a quilt square celebrating African American food. More information can be found here.

"American food culture has been immeasurably shaped by Black Americans and African/American is celebrating their contributions to our culinary history," said Carley Graham Garcia, Head of Community Affairs for Amazon in New York. "We're thankful MOFAD came to us with this partnership and opportunity to ensure New Yorkers of all ages including Title 1 public school students can experience and enjoy the exhibit."

About Jessica B. Harris

Dr. Jessica B. Harris is widely considered the world's preeminent expert on the foods of the African Diaspora. Dr. Harris is the author of 12 critically acclaimed books and was recently inducted into the James Beard Foundation's Hall of Fame.

In 2012, the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture engaged Dr. Harris to conceptualize and curate the museum's cafeteria.

Following a 50-year teaching career at CUNY Queens College, and building on over four decades of work as an acclaimed journalist, African/American is a natural extension of Dr. Harris's life's work. As Dr. Scott Barton writes, "Dr. Jessica B. Harris has championed the heretofore invisible African American/African culinarians, rendering them visible and in plain sight."

About MOFAD

The Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the world's first large-scale food museum. ​​With African/American, arriving after a two-year postponement due to the pandemic, MOFAD expands on nearly a decade of making the case, in a museum setting, for culinary history's centrality in our social and cultural life. ​​Since 2013, MOFAD has brought to the public expansive, engaging, and educational explorations of breakfast cereal, the flavor industry, Chinese American restaurants, and more. Spanning four centuries, African/American: Making the Nation's Table's immersive approach to the abundance these histories contain expands MOFAD's vision of food as a powerful lens for understanding ourselves, each other, and the world around us.

About The Africa Center

The Africa Center is transforming the world's understanding of Africa, its Diaspora and the role of people of African descent in the world. Serving as the hub for the exchange of ideas around culture, business and policy as related to the continent, and in the spirit of collaboration and engagement with individuals and institutions who share the Center's values, The Africa Center inspires enthusiasm, advances thought and action around Africa's global influence and impact on our collective futures. The Africa Center's physical presence on Fifth Avenue at the intersection of Harlem and the Museum Mile embodies the dynamism and diversity of Africa and its Diaspora in the heart of New York City. Learn more by visiting www.theafricacenter.org.

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