Corner Table Talk

"As people of color, we’ve always dealt with crisis but what has never stopped is our capability to invent. We created some of the best dishes during the roughest times. We created some of the best art. Art, where does hip hop come from? It comes from struggle. We created some of the best music during these times. So, I think if you want to create a business, you cannot do it without walking through the struggle.” Mar...

Overtown EatUp! is first and foremost a love letter to the “Harlem of the South ''and its profoundly important role in shaping the Miami of today.

Food is more than just sustenance; it's a story, a community, and a way to bring people together. In this episode, we take you to the heart of Overtown, Miami, where the annual Overtown EatUp! was in full swing, across the street from Red Rooster Overtown, as part of the South Beach Foo...

The mission of the James Beard Awards is to recognize exceptional talent and achievement in the culinary arts, hospitality, media, and broader food system, as well as a demonstrated commitment to racial and gender equity, community, sustainability, and a culture where all can thrive.

Each year some of the brightest stars in the culinary world and food media are recognized at the annual James Beard A...

"A ​friend ​of ​mine ​once ​told ​me, ​he ​said, ​'you ​don't ​build ​houses, ​you ​direct' ​because building ​a ​home ​is ​the ​same ​way ​that ​I ​direct. ​I ​don't ​know ​which ​comes ​first, if ​anything, ​I ​try ​to ​curate ​whatever ​it ​is ​I'm ​doing ​to ​create ​a ​transportive ​moment, ​or ​moments, ​multiple ​moments ​that ​take ​you ​someplace, ​and ​that's ​what ​sticks. ​That's ​what ​resonates. ​That's ...

"My father said that when you look at the cultural traditions of people, the European cultural tradition is a generation makes a mask. They put it up on the wall, put a glass box around it, and they point to it and say that's the greatest mask that's ever been made. The African tradition is every generation makes their own mask. So what we see with this constant creativity, this constant improvisation is a very human,...

"It's hard to hire female chefs. It's hard to hire African American chefs because there's just not as many people interested in it, which I'm like, yeah, and that's why we need to promote it, and that's why we need to give them opportunities far beyond what might seem reasonable because we want them to be the heroes so everyone else can look up to them.  Then we can actually bring real diversity into our kitchens."  C...

"My journey has really been following the path throughout the African diaspora, on five continents, chasing the knowledge of essentially how through slavery, Africa changed the global culinary conversation."  Alexander Smalls

Alexander Smalls began his illustrious career as a restaurateur in the nineties and furthered my appreciation for low-country cuisine when he opened Café Beulah, his first restaur...

"What we saw right away, and I would say that to anybody who engages in the fantasy of going into the restaurant business, in the end, it is not about the concept, it's about the people that work with you, work for you. Because if we didn't understand it was about the people, we would have died with one restaurant. I don't care how good your concept is."  Rick Rosenfield

Who doesn't like pizza? Whether...

"Everything is in a cycle, and the cycle is dictated by the audience's needs and wants, the studio's needs and wants in terms of the financial bottom line, right? Those two very evolving organisms are always trying to sync into the right gear. So, I don't worry anymore because it always comes back around. You're in this long enough, you just go, all right, this is a cycle, it'll come back around."  Stephanie Allain

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"I have to say at some point I did have to see that resume. There was a point where if you were a newcomer, I had too much to do. I had people come in my office. When I got on a little further into the business. Rodney King came to my office because he wanted me to do a project with him. Sweetest, kindest, nicest man you ever wanna meet. Those kind of adventures, have filled my life. But Brad, you do know me also, tha...

"Miami has always been a unique place, right? In comparison to the rest of the states.  I feel like I'm in a different country and it's just so Caribbean, it's so island. So  the city is special in that way. Today there's this boom and the energy has shifted toward culture. And when I say culture, a cultural perspective of Miami being showcased as much as Latin culture is known here in the city. So that's been very exciting to see ...

"When I do anything, I like to break all the bricks. What was here before Lincoln Center was old San Juan Hill, a very affluent or a very popular Afro-Caribbean, Afro Latino area. It just spoke to me. It was like, I'm supposed to be here. I'm supposed to revive the stories of the people and give a voice to the inaudible and that's what the restaurant does. It tells a story of New York, but not the New York that I guess the affluent...

"Remember, 1992 was the year that Naughty by Nature had a huge song called O.P.P. It was a megahit. Jonathan [Editor-in-Chief] asked me if I wanted to write an article about Treach from Naughty by Nature. I was like, heck yeah. He didn't tell me that Albert Watson was shooting the cover, the famous photographer Albert Watson, and he didn't tell me that my story was gonna be the very first cover story for Vibe Magazine."  Kevin Powe...

I been honest

I've had my heart broken like promise

I been decolonizing my closet

I been intentional with my dollars

I been

I been learning boundaries

I been done with jobs payin hourly

I been thinking a lot more while I'm showering

I been putting my 10,000 hours in

I been thinking bout ownership

I been thinking bout how nah I don't really think I want the sh*t

I been thinking bout meaning

I been thinking bout us...

"If you go back 500 years, West Africans knew hibiscus to be a powerful medicinal plant, full of antimicrobials, full of antioxidants, natural source of vitamin C. It's a natural aphrodisiac. They would make a tea from this flower, and this was part of their ceremony and their traditions. Then around 500 years ago, the transatlantic slave trade starts, and bodies and spices are stolen from the continent of Africa. Thi...

"Unapologetic in her due process, not waiting, not stopping, not pausing. If we don't do that, it won't get told. It won't get bought. We all know that we've submitted our various original pieces over the decades, mind you. Just sit down and do it ourselves, tell our stories and presume, not governed by the dollar but by the authenticity of the narrative, that there is an audience waiting."   Ambassador Shabazz       ...

"My only competition was myself. And I just kept saying, You just need one spot. You just need one scholarship. So, when it was my turn, I danced for Jesus, honey. I danced like I had never danced before."  Vanessa Bell Calloway   

Leaving her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio and following her dream, Vanessa Bell Calloway arrived in New York City in the late 70s with grit and determination to pursue a caree...

An 'icon' is much more known than a celebrity. They are someone who leaves a mark on history. They have a strong depth of significance. They are a person who is well known, and who people look up to.

Jayne Kennedy Overton embodies that description breaking barriers when she became the first woman of color in the late 70s to host THE NFL on CBS, a national sports show, on what Bob Costas credited as being "the template for modern s...

What is a monument but a standing memory? An artifact to make tangible the truth of the past. My body and blood are a tangible truth of the South and its past. The black people I come from were owned by the white people I come from. The white people I come from fought and died for their Lost Cause. And I ask you now, who dares to tell me to celebrate them? Who dares to ask me to accept their mounted pedestals?

You cannot dis...