A view of a gazebo awning in green and gold with the silhouette of the African continent displayed

Celebrating Three Years of the African American Garden

October 19, 2024

10 a.m. | Ross Hall

Closing Symposium

Join us for a one-day symposium—free and open to the public—to celebrate the closing of the exhibition African American Garden | Diaspora: Same Boat Different Stops. The symposium will feature a conversation between celebrated chef Kwame Onwuachi, creator of New York City’s restaurant Tatiana, and award-winning author Dr. Jessica B. Harris, as well as a panel with trailblazing food scholars and community organizers who participated as key advisors in the creation and development of the African American Garden.

Curated by Dr. Harris, African American Garden | Diaspora: Same Boat Different Stops highlights the plants and gardening traditions that are at the heart of the experiences and histories of the African diaspora in the Americas. This exhibition is currently on display at NYBG’s Edible Academy.

The symposium will be an exploration of the rich stories of memory and belonging told by the plants in the garden from the perspective of a diverse and prestigious group of speakers. Following the panels, be sure to join us at the African American Garden for the Closing Ceremony, where Dr. Jessica B. Harris will close the last iteration of the exhibition.

The African American Garden is made possible with support from the Mellon Foundation.

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Kwame Onwuachi in Conversation with Dr. Jessica B. Harris

10–11 a.m.

A person in a mint green jacket and white shirt poses for a photo

Kwame Onwuachi is a James Beard Award-winning chef, and author of the critically acclaimed cookbook My America and the memoir Notes from a Young Black Chef, which is being turned into a feature film by A24. Kwame has been named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs, Esquire Magazine’s 2019 Chef of the Year, and is a 30 Under 30 honoree by both Zagat and Forbes. He’s also been featured on TIME’s 100 Next List and has been named the most important Chef in America by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Kwame appeared as a judge on season 18 of Top Chef in April 2021. He first appeared as a contestant on the show in season 13. He also was the host of the 2021 and 2022 James Beard Awards in Chicago.

Kwame currently serves as Food & Wine’s executive producer. In this newly appointed role, Kwame will collaborate on big brand moments and events, including the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, as well as the creator of “The Family Reunion: Presented by Kwame Onwuachi,” an annual multi-day event taking place in Middleburg, Virginia that celebrates diversity in the hospitality community. His restaurant concept Tatiana opened at the Lincoln Center in November 2022. Since its opening, it has had numerous top accolades, including “The #1 Restaurant in New York City,” by the New York Times, “The One to Watch” by World’s 50 Best Restaurants, and La Liste’s “World’s Best Restaurants List.” In the summer of 2024, he will partner with the Salamander DC hotel to open his newest restaurant concept, Dōgon.

Photo of Jessica Harris with a stack of cookbooks

Dr. Jessica B. Harris is America’s leading scholar on the food and foodways of the African Diaspora. Dr. Harris received the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020, and she was named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People of 2021.” In the same year, her book High on the Hog was adapted into a Netflix series; in 2022, the series won a Peabody and an NAACP Image Award, and was renewed for a second season. She serves on NYBG’s Board of Trustees.

Lessons from the African American Garden: A Panel Discussion

11 a.m.–12 p.m.

A person in a tall straw hat and glasses poses for a photo outdoors

Dr. Scott Alves Barton is a food historian. During his 25+ years as an executive chef, restaurant/product consultant, and culinary educator, he has taught at numerous institutions, including NYU, The New School, Pace, and the Institute for Culinary Education. He is currently Food Studies Professor in Africana Studies at the University of Notre Dame, and is a member of the James Beard Foundation Cookbook Awards committee. He was named one of the top 25 best African American chefs by Ebony Magazine.

Isha Gutierrez-Sumner—a Garifuna artist, chef, and author—immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 15, and the foundation of her Garifuna ethnicity and culture remains central to her identity. Moreover, sharing that has been a major part of her life for the past 25 years. As a professional Garifuna dancer, Isha was a member of the International Folkloric Garifuna Ballet of Honduras, which toured throughout Honduras and Europe in the early 1990s.

From 1995–2000, she was a member of Wanichagu, a Garifuna dance company based in New York City, and performed at Lincoln Center, Harvard University, and other venues. With a continued passion to share and preserve her own Garifuna culture, Isha has dedicated much of the past five years to documenting Garifuna cuisine in her forthcoming cookbook Weiga, Let’s Eat.

A person in a black shirt and black jacket performs on hand drums

Kenneth R. Otero-Walker is an ethnobotanist, culture bearer, and cultural activist who engages in ethnobotanical research, which focuses on the spiritual use and significance of plant resources. A native of New York’s inner city and a graduate from Brooklyn Tech, one of NYC’s specialized public high schools, he has completed a degree in Latin American and Caribbean studies with a minor in Africana studies from SUNY Binghamton.

He has presented internationally on topics related to ethnobotany. He is currently a Project Manager for the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium on an NSF-funded grant to secure, digitize, and increase access to biocultural collections.

Henry Obispo is the founder of The United Business Cooperative (UBC), a business and community cooperative based in the South Bronx, the first of its kind and winner of the Thrive Competition award from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC). He has also launched BORN JUICE, a social-entrepreneurship venture focused on sustainable, zero-carbon-footprint, zero-waste, hyper-local food, grown with hydroponic technology, to produce plant-based food in the Bronx.

A person poses for a photo with a stack of cocoa pods

Dr. Maricel Presilla is an award-winning author, culinary historian, chef, and restaurateur, and a widely recognized expert on Latin American cuisine. She has studied tropical crops, cacao, and vanilla agriculture, and is founder and Americas Director of the International Chocolate Awards, the largest independent fine chocolate competition in the world. Her book Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America was the James Beard Foundation’s 2013 Cookbook of the Year.

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