The Museum Of Food and Drinks (MOFAD), located on 62 Bayard St in Brooklyn New York, will be hosting their Africa to America spring fundraiser event on May 15, 2019, which is a 100% exclusionary event with no separate inclusion community Africa to America culinary experience. How did this museum team think this was a great idea to not offer a separate affordable African diaspora food fundraising event for the community? Especially when the food being featured in this gala directly comes from the result of “The Great Migration” and “ The Middle Passage” which directly affected the current culinary, social, and economic state of African Americans in today’s society.
MOFAD will be having their annual fundraising spring gala to finance their African diaspora food exhibition. The gala tax deductible ticket pricing runs between $750 to $40,0000. Questlove from the legendary Philly Hip Hop group The Roots and lead composer for Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show will be honored with actor/ comedian Wyatt Cenac penned as MOFAD host. Students from the Food and Finance High School will be acting as culinary support and dishes will be prepared by several renowned James Beard awarded black chefs featuring cuisines focusing on the African diaspora.
On MOFAD Facebook page, I and many other commenters of color posted our concerns over the ticket prices and the exclusion of community participation in the rare African diaspora culinary experience. What did MOFAD Facebook administrator initially do with our Facebook comments? They did what most classism, tone deaf, culturally insensitive institutions of knowledge do, they blocked our comments. Then later allowed the whiter looking and white commenters pricing concerns to remain posted…. Oh how we love colorism (that was said in sarcasm). Here are some of the Facebook comments below :
African American culture is not a trend or only some kind of money making machine… it’s a true spiritual and historical imprint of our ancestors’ and current life. I am greatly offended MOFAD (whom majority of the time highlights Asian cuisines) and the predominantly black elite culinary participants for not having any community component to lead up to this separate very important culinary historical experience.
To have an African diaspora food experience excluding the community component is an oxymoron because it’s part of the African American food culture to share our traditional cuisines with friends, family, and community.
Gullah foods and culture comes from my people surviving slavery and preserving our love of community and family. New York City staple southern inspired restaurants like Sylvia’s, Amy Ruth’s, Mintons/Cecil’s Steak House, and most recent eateries like Red Rooster and Sweet Chick all have Gullah and African food influences .The majority of these restaurants has community tastings at low or no cost which are usually in conjunction with their more exclusive events.
At the end of the day MOFAD is a 501(3) which means they receive public and private funding. They, like many other organizations , are supposed to have a certain amount of funds allocated for free public events therefore no reason except for a combination of racism and classism for their oversight regarding adding a community food tasting component to their Africa to America event. The second part is why the black chefs and participants did not rally for the NYC black and brown community to have a separate Africa to America culinary experience that would lead up to the main gala. These featured black chefs and MOFAD black board members success comes from the very culture and people being excluded from the Africa to America gala experience.