Welcome to Fine Words and Buttered Parsnips, a column of meandering culinary sensibilities, investigating the world of food and fare from a plethora of perspectives.
In honour of Black History Month, we’re giving thanks to just a few of the many Black innovators and chefs who have left their legacy on the food world of today.
Edna Lewis: The image of Southern cooking today can be traced back to Edna Lewis and her revolutionary cookbook, The Taste of Country Cooking (1976). A restaurateur, farmer, and teacher, Lewis cooked for the likes of Marlon Brando, Truman Capote, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Gloria Vanderbilt at Café Nicholson, before moving on to write her own cookbook with the endorsement of Julia Child’s editor, Judith Jones. Lewis’s cookbook established many key dishes in Southern cuisine, from shrimp and grits to fried chicken. In 1995, she was the first person to be awarded the James Beard Living Legend Award.
Georgia Gilmore: A true culinary rebel, Georgia Gilmore formed The Club from Nowhere in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 after Rosa Parks’s arrest. The secret club raised money to fund the Montgomery Bus Boycott by selling fried chicken sandwiches outside churches. She then testified in the State of Alabama v. M. L. King, Jr. trial in 1956, which led to her dismissal from her job at the National Lunch Company. However, with the help of M.L.K. Jr., Gilmore opened her own restaurant out of her home, where the Montgomery Improvement Association and others gathered during their meetings.
Maulana Karenga: Unlike the others on this compendium, Karenga, a professor of Africana Studies at California State University, did not invent a food dish or tool. Rather, he started an entire holiday: Kwanzaa. In 1966, in response to the Watts riots, Karenga created the holiday to bring together a diaspora of African cultures and traditions to honour African-American heritage. He wanted to “give black people an opportunity to celebrate themselves and their history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society.” The celebration consists of honouring the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba): unity (umoja), self-determination (kujichagulia), work and responsibility (ujima), cooperative economics (ujamaa), purpose (nia), creativity (kuumba), and faith (imani). Feasts prepared often include fruit, jollof rice, okra, black-eyed peas, and collard greens.
Madeline M. Turner: In 1916, Turner received a patent for her Turner’s Fruit-Press, a highly innovative design that automatically cut fruit in half and juiced them, all in one smooth motion. While not much is known about Turner’s personal life, her complex design paved the way for modern juicers and other food preparation machines.
George Washington Carver: Arguably one of the most famous Black food innovators, Carver was a professor and the first Agricultural Director at the Tuskegee Institute. Born into slavery and eventually freed after abolition, Carver had to fight for his education. After being denied entry to Highland University in Kansas due to his race, he taught himself agricultural practices on a homestead before becoming the first Black student at Iowa State University (then Iowa State Agricultural College). During his scientific career, he did prolific research on crop inputs and soil chemistry and devised many product improvements to help small independent farmers. While Carver is commonly credited as the inventor of peanut butter, that title actually goes to the Aztecs.
Kate and George Crum: If you’ve ever satisfied your late-night cravings with the crispy, salty delicacy that is the potato chip, you are indebted to the innovations of siblings Kate and George Crum. While working at the Moon Lake Lodge in Saratoga Springs, New York, the kitchen received a complaint that their British chips (a.k.a. french fries) were “too thick and salty,” which prompted the pair to slice the potatoes paper-thin before frying. George Crum went on to open his own restaurant, Crumbs House, in 1860, where potato chips were their house signature and the Vanderbilts were repeat customers.
James Hemings: If Lin Manuel Miranda ever writes a sequel to Hamilton, he ought to include James Hemings. Hemings was brought to Paris by Thomas Jefferson under enslavement, where he received master culinary training before becoming Jefferson’s chef de cuisine. We can thank Hemings for introducing dishes such as macaroni and cheese, meringue, and crème brûlée to American cuisine. His most impactful work, however, was cooking dinner for Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson on June 20, 1790, during the reconciliatory meal to “save the union.” After buying his freedom from Jefferson in 1796, Hemings travelled across Europe before settling in Baltimore.
Alfred L. Cralle: Baskin-Robbins and Ben and Jerry’s will be forever indebted to Alfred Cralle, inventor of the ice cream scoop. Before Cralle’s innovation, scoopers would use two spoons to carve and mould their ice cream. In 1896, Cralle was granted a patent for his one-spoon tool that moulded, compacted, and served the ice cream scoop all in one, making all future high schoolers’ summer jobs ten times easier.
Frederick McKinley Jones: In 1940, Jones received a patent for his invention that revolutionized food transportation. His air-cooling units installed in food transport trucks gave birth to the frozen food revolution by preserving perishable foods during long journeys. Jones ended his schooling after sixth grade and never received a formal college education. Dubbed “the King of Cool,” his company, Thermo King, produced refrigeration units that were used during World War II to preserve and transport blood transfusions and medicine. King also developed a portable X-ray machine, a soundtrack synchronizer for film production, and a snowmobile. His lifetime of legacy earned him the National Medal of Technology and a spot in the National Inventors Hall of Fame.