This has been a great year for Wisconsin food. Building on the momentum of “Top Chef” and the James Beard Awards, local innovator/entrepreneur Yollande Tchouapi just announced a high-end cultural experience that blends food, community, and diversity and inclusion. Happening throughout this fall, “Flavors of Africa & the Diaspora – Best Chefs Wisconsin” features eight weeks of immersive workshops open to chefs and the general public and a gala dining event held at the Milwaukee Athletic Club on Nov. 10.
Tchouapi – the force behind the wonderful (and dearly missed) African restaurant in Tosa, Irie Zulu – is the founder of Ubuntu MKE, a unique cross-cultural incubator lab whose mission is to build a more inclusive, diverse and equitable food community. One of the ways Ubuntu – which honors the philosophy of Ubuntu, an African word translating to “humanity towards others” – will do this is through curated events like “Flavors of Africa.” It’ll also work to develop and elevate the talents of underrepresented groups from the African diaspora, in particular LGBTQ+, women and refugees, according the website.
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“I believe that through breaking bread (food), we can work together to start a community-wide dialog that begins to reframe these tired narratives and creates a new story for our cities and states that focuses on unity and progress. I believe food and culture connect, unites and heal,” said Tchouapi in Ubuntu MKE’s press materials. She is referring to the “negative impact of stories of racial disparity, segregation and the lack of equity and inclusion,” she said. “These narratives have directly impacted Midwestern local economy primarily Wisconsin (Milwaukee and Madison) tourism. We can choose to accept or continue this narrative, or we can choose to take positive and resolute actions to change it,” said Tchouapi.
The workshops ($90 per person) are all individually themed, with the first, titled “History of Southern Farmers’ Foodways & Impact on the American Cuisine,” taking place on Sept. 15 (2-4 p.m.). It will be held at Alice’s Garden (2136 N. 21st St.) and feature panelists Venice Williams (executive director of Alice’s Garden) and Monique Liston, founder of Milwaukee’s UBUNTU Research and Evaluation. The workshops also function as communal meals, with the Sept. 15 event catered by Vegan Soul MKE’s Zakiya Courtney, Heaven’s Table’s Jason Alston, Somali restaurant Blue Star Café, and Frankise Cameroon Cuisine. Subsequent workshops are Sept. 29, Oct. 6, Oct. 13, Oct. 20, Oct. 26, Oct. 27 and Nov. 9. Those events feature locally and nationally known panelists and/or guest chefs such as James Beard Award-winning author Michael Twitty.
The gala/competition on Nov. 10 (2-7 p.m.) will fill two ballrooms at the MAC (758 N. Broadway) with dozens of local dining heavy-hitters such as Sanford, The Diplomat, EsterEv, Birch, Morel, Amilinda, Ardent, Bavette, Lupi & Iris, Goodkind and Odd Duck. It will also reflect the culinary diversity of Milwaukee and beyond, including Immy’s African Cuisine, Blue Star Café, Alem Ethiopian Restaurant, Frankie’s African Cuisine, Buraka African Cuisine from Madison, and Flavor of Nigeria from Washington D.C. Tickets are $350 per person.
The event will benefit LBGTQ- Pride United, Alice’s Garden, Hunger Task Force, and Milwaukee African Women- Refugees.
Tickets for all of the events are available on the Ubuntu MKE website.
