In honor of Black History Month, the Milwaukee Winter Farmers Market held a celebration of African American cuisine. Booths served everything from banana pudding to barbecue—alongside the many vendors regularly at the market.
Lake Effect’s Joy Powers met up with Dig In! contributor Venice Williams at the market to learn more about African American culinary history. Williams is the executive director of the Fondy Food Center, which organizes the market.
She begins by highlighting collard greens—one of many now-iconic dishes that originated in West Africa and were brought to the Americas during the transatlantic slave trade.
“Collard greens are a staple in our tradition, and there are probably not very many traditional homes in the African American community where you will not find a pot of collard greens brewing on a Sunday afternoon,” Williams says.
Other staples, like okra and black-eyed peas, remind her of her mother’s succotash, she says. Black-eyed peas are a personal favorite for Williams—and they’re also a common New Year’s dish and a symbol of good luck.
“I love black-eyed peas, and when I'm eating these foods, they remind me of who I am, where I come from, and how important those roots are,” she says.
Overall, Williams says the Winter Farmers Market’s celebration of African American cuisine is about reckoning with the legacy of slavery while also reclaiming Black culinary histories and traditions. Growing up in Pittsburgh with a father who was a chef, baker, and caterer, she has long believed in the power of food to bring people together, build bridges, and even heal.
“At the very least, what I can do with the platforms I have is support those who are nourishing us, who are putting their love, their passion, and their grandmothers’ recipes—or their grandfathers’ skill at smoking meat—into their businesses and keeping the stories, the ancestors, and the traditions alive,” she says.
