Arts and Culture
Chef Wanda Blake Honors Black Culture Through Food at Black-Eyed Pea Festival
Chef Wanda Blake, a legacy food ambassador for Farms to Grow, Inc., will honor the history of Black farmers and Black cuisine by creating a food altar for this year’s annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival on Sept. 14 at Marston Campbell Park at 17th and West streets. Blake is a chef who incorporates history and culture into her foods, using her awareness of Black history to enrich both the body and the mind. With this in mind, Blake’s altar will highlight red foods and their significance to the Black community.
By Daisha Williams
Chef Wanda Blake, a legacy food ambassador for Farms to Grow, Inc., will honor the history of Black farmers and Black cuisine by creating a food altar for this year’s annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival on Sept. 14 at Marston Campbell Park at 17th and West streets.
Blake is a chef who incorporates history and culture into her foods, using her awareness of Black history to enrich both the body and the mind. With this in mind, Blake’s altar will highlight red foods and their significance to the Black community.
Red is associated with the blood shed during slavery and that blackness and pain are often intertwined with one another.
The practice of eating red foods and drinks for Juneteenth and other gatherings was popularized in Texas, which may have been influenced by Yoruba and Congo cultures. Red symbolizes spiritual power and transformation in both of these cultures.
Blake says that things like “red drink” are examples of the ancestors’ ability to find value in the things around them. “Red drink” was a type of hibiscus tea, sweetened with honey. Hibiscus is now known to be hydrating, and helps with high blood pressure, blood sugar and menstrual cramps.
Like black-eyed peas, watermelon is part of Black history as it was cultivated in Africa. And, according to Wikipedia, red velvet cake — an iconic dessert — may “have origins in 1911 when Rufus Estes, a formerly enslaved person and chef, incorporated a recipe for a sweet velvet cake in his cookbook.”
The color red also has ties to enslaved ancestors beyond food. There are tales of African people being lured to slave ships using red cloth, which was a rarity and highly prized. such as. Red handkerchiefs were considered powerful objects.
Blake learned to cook the way many Black women do, from her mom, and later from aunties and grandmothers as well. Food, family, and culture are so intertwined with each other, and Blake never forgets that when navigating her career. This explains her strong ties between food and culture.
As she’s taken recipes into her own hands, she has added her own creativity into. For example, at previous Black-Eyed Pea Festivals, she has created many different black-eyed pea dishes, including a hummus-like dip, chili, pies, and hoppin’ john pasta.
Blake is the legacy food ambassador for Farms to Grow Inc. Farms to Grow is a nationwide 501c3 nonprofit organization that works with Black farmers, and other farmers who struggle due to systemic oppression such as Indigenous people, Latinx people and other minority groups. Their goal is to keep underserved farmers able to grow and produce food not just now, but for future generations as well.
Blake holds the title of ‘Legacy Food Ambassador’ for consciously integrating culture into her meals, as well as keeping an awareness about cultural food security. Blake was born in Lewisville, Ark., and then moved to San Francisco, first studying at City College of San Francisco.
The 9th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival takes place on Sat. Sept. 14 at Marston Campbell Park at 17th and West in West Oakland. Free and family friendly, take BART, the bus or car service and bypass parking. See you there.
