WELCOME TO BITE THE POWER™️ ERA.

Making space for Black food stories and the people who love them.

I’m both nervous and extremely excited about spilling the proverbial beans on an event I’ve been conceptualizing for the last few years. It is my pleasure to introduce to you BITE THE POWER™️, the world’s first traveling Black food storytelling event!

BITE THE POWER™️ is my attempt combine my community organizing work with the Black food advocacy I do with Black Food Fridays. As an organizer, I understand better than most that movements are not just powered by causes—there are thousands of worthy causes to get behind. But the causes that gain traction, the ones that stay in our collective conscious, are led by great storytelling. Close your eyes and think of some of the most dynamic leaders in your life (wait—finish reading this paragraph THEN close your eyes). Even though I don’t know who popped up in your head, I bet they all share this one trait: being an excellent storyteller.

Ella Baker. Barack Obama. Nelson Mandela. Martin Luther King, Jr. Shirley Chisholm. James Baldwin. Stokely Carmichael. Bayard Rustin. All dynamic in their own right. Some were more verbose than others. Some were better at the oratory arts than others. Some identified as men, some as women. Some felt at home being in the front of the camera while others preferred the shade that behind-the-scenes work provided. But they were all skilled at using stories to engender their ideals forward. I want BITE THE POWER™️ to be that! To simultaneously work as both proving ground and a safe space for unadulterated Black food storytelling.

Most would feel the need to stick the word “unapologetic” before the word “Black” in the previous sentence. But to me, Blackness is not a thing that needs to be apologized for. We didn’t create the confines of race. We did not create the caste system that this country operates under nor did we ascribe characteristics to the natural features of humans as a way to classify one another. Therefore, I am of the belief that we don’t need to apologize for the beautiful art that we collectively created with the mud they continue to sling our way. If you’re cool with that being our base of operations, feel free to read on about the origins of this idea and how BITE THE POWER™️ will operate.