New Orleans has built a reputation as a culinary capital, but the history of its cuisine hasn’t always been truthfully told. While much credit is often attributed to the French, a new wave of black chefs is working to educate diners about the equal influence of African and Caribbean traditions. That legacy extends back to the era of slavery, said Zella Palmer, a food scholar and the director of the Ray Charles Program in African American Material Culture at Dillard University. She pointed out that most of the enslaved people first brought to Louisiana in the early 18th century came from West Africa, including Senegambia, and that Africans sold into slavery were commonly targeted by human traffickers for their specific skills.
Black Chefs are Rewriting ‘Whitewashed’ History in New Orleans
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