Today, June 19, 2023, marks the second anniversary of celebrating Juneteenth as a legal holiday in the state of Maryland. On April 12, 2022, then Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed a bill into law certifying the holiday. In addition to celebrating the emancipation date of the enslaved in Texas on June 19th, it is also an opportunity to revere the rich history of African American food. Two award-winning chefs, David and Tonya Thomas of the Baltimore based H3irloom Food Group, are taking on this mission journeying through a vast array of flavors and ingredients.
Flat top grill searing of blackened salmon and cheese for mac and cheese grating were some of the many tasks on the docket for midday prep at The Sinclair, an event space and prep kitchen in East Baltimore. Chef David, however, had his attention set on the juicer and a large filet of raw salmon with intentions of curing.
“We juiced the cabbage, took the pulp and the juice and spread that out over the salmon,” he explained. “(Then we) made sure we added some (of the pulp) on the bottom as a bed, then poured the juice on top. Then kind of pressed it into the salmon. We will let it sit for about 24 hours. Tomorrow you’ll have beautiful purple salmon on the outside and beautiful pink flesh on the inside.”
Not wasting any part of the cabbage is at the core of Chef David’s food philosophy. Even the skin, which was taken off the salmon to filet, was dried and then blended into a garnish. Chef David explained to WYPR, however, that there is a misconception that this “working with all the scraps” style of African American cooking derives from only the scraps being given to slaves to work with. He suggested that that ideology is a misnomer.
“The European population has always viewed meat as prime and so on and so forth,” Chef David said. “So if it doesn't meet a certain criteria to them, it is a throwaway piece of meat or carcass. Africans and indigenous people have never viewed food that way.”
Thomas, a grand champion on the TV show Chopped, and his wife Chef Tonya’s cooking at H3irloom honors the techniques of West Africa. They center their recipes and preparations on that lens rather than the European, oftentimes French, standards. On this Juneteenth celebration of the emancipation of the enslaved, they also hope to help emancipate Black chefs from the confines of white American culinary ideals.
The impetus that led to this mission is rooted in the influences of both David and Tonya's grandmothers. Chef David remembers his grandmother butchering chicken, grinding salt and making homemade root beer with seemingly every ingredient making its way to the stove. She would insist to him, “Baby, we need that for flavor.”
Chef Tonya, who has served food with her husband at the James Beard House, recalls her grandmother being her antidote to growing up in a time of convenience, where most food she ate came pre-packaged. She’d seek advice on techniques when seeing her cook from scratch. “Everything that she learned coming from the South and everything that my family learned coming from Maryland, and knowing that the origins of all that came from the diaspora, we’ve been able to embed that into what we do as H3irloom food group,” she said.
The chefs see Juneteenth as an opportunity to continue the traditions of their ancestors. Even as America stripped West Africans of their resources, they could not take away essential elements that can be found in the cuisine. Chef Tonya claimed, “If we didn't have land, or a lot of money, or businesses, the only thing we had left was stories, and food, and recipes.”
Those recipes historically even bled into what was considered early American cuisine in Baltimore. In Virginia mansions and Baltimore hotels in the late 1700s, Black chefs came up with key dishes such as mac and cheese, Terrapin Stew and Canvasback Duck. Thomas Jefferson’s chef James Hemings even worked in the Columbian Hotel in downtown Baltimore in 1801 and was a major contributor to the innovation in those kitchens. Chef Tonya thinks the time is now to bring light to that history.
“Everything in the city was built up because of Black chefs, and that's not highlighted,” she said. “We love to speak their names into existence if they're forgotten about.”
Chef David was also preparing duck confit atop mac and cheese for Baltimore’s Afram Festival, honoring those chefs. Duck, according to the chefs, is an important part of Maryland agriculture, along with things like corn and soybeans. Farming is a particular way in which the chefs feel the US government could take action aligned with Juneteenth. In February, the Justice For Black Farmers Act was introduced in Congress by Congresswoman Alma Adams and Senator Cory Booker, which aims to address discrimination in U.S. agriculture policy. Adams said in a press release on the day of introduction, "It’s important we recognize the unjust history of farming and agriculture in America. During the 20th Century, Black farmers lost over $300 billion worth of farmland and acreage – a loss that further exacerbated the wealth gap for Black Americans. That’s one of the many reasons why I’m proud to reintroduce the Justice for Black Farmers Act, which would enact policies to end discrimination within the USDA, protect the 50,000 remaining Black farmers from losing their land, provide land grants to create a new generation of Black farmers, and restore the land base that has been lost.” The bill still has yet to be passed.
Chef David insists Congress must “pay Black farmers! Get that farm bill passed, and have legislation built in to help black farmers get ahead.” The farm bill will not only help farmers secure and maintain their farms, but also allow them to have a legacy to pass down to their family.
It all comes back to the land. The chefs honor their heritage through it, and when the land blesses them with ingredients, they use their skills to amplify every part of it. In the corner of the prep kitchen there is a tray on a rack filled with brownish green dust. This was made from leftover collard green leaves which were dehydrated and made into tobacco, then ground down into a seasoning powder. This savory mix, with flavor reminiscent of broth and cooked meats, is what Chef David refers to as umami. “It's just having that philosophy in the kitchen,” he explained. “It just goes back to remembering where we came from and not wasting anything. And then trying to be as conscious as we are.”
Chef Tonya summed up the philosophy more simply: “It’s going backwards, to go forward.”
