LAUNCH: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
END: Sunday, December 1, 2024
Location: Online or at the Black Joy Project exhibit
[View this on the Spurlock Events page.]
As part of its ongoing celebration of Black and African-American communities in the C-U area, The Black Joy Project is gathering recipes for a community cookbook! Every family has food traditions, dishes that one auntie always brings over, medical food remedies our nana swears by, and creative ways we “make do with what we have.” We invite you to share the recipes that are special to you, your family, or your friends (our chosen families). Tell us how these dishes came to be, and when you enjoy them (Special holiday? Sunday dinner? Anytime/anywhere?).
“But...I just throw in a little here and a little there. I don’t know how to write down a recipe!” We’ve got you covered. Beginning Tuesday, March 26th:
Visit https://go.las.illinois.edu/ItsBakedIn to find options to record yourself or submit your dish online, along with helpful hints and instructions.
Or, stop by the COMMUNITY, COOKING, & COMFORT section of the Black Joy Project (also beginning March 26th) to pick up a special recipe writing packet that will walk you through the steps. Work on it at home (tip: call family members to help) and bring it back when you’re ready.
Takeaways...
While this particular project required a large time investment, I have enjoyed working on it. It has given me a chance to work on the Black Joy Project in a capacity that serves our local community, and on a personal level, I have been able to showcase a recipe that means a lot to my wife's family. I would like to spend some time this summer helping this portion of the project to gain some traction. Family recipes - especially in Black communities - are very sensitive things that have deeply embedded histories, rooted in resilience and strength but often paired with generational trauma. To give a recipe to an institution requires enormous trust.
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