Where Are the African-American Chefs in Nashville? | Bites

I meant to write this piece for early last week to commemorate the end of Black History Month, but I ended up being out of town all week and didn’t want to ask some hard questions without being around to hear the answers. What set me off was realizing that during all of February, we here at Bites featured only one piece that even tangentially mentioned an African-American chef, a throwaway post that promised free cupcakes for one hour on Valentine’s Day at the Cupcake Collection that didn’t actually mention the name of the owner/baker Mignon François.

I don’t want to point fingers necessarily, other than at myself, but we could all do a better job trying to share stories of black culinary professionals in town. Heck, we even dedicated an entire column to a list of immigrant-run restaurants, but I can’t remember any similar attention being paid to African-American-owned eateries. And I blame my own ignorance and lack of emphasis.

It’s sad but true that outside of barbecue joints, hot chicken spots, wing shacks and meat-and-three’s like Silver Sands, Dangure’s, Swett’s and Big Al’s, the only things close to fine black-owned dining that we ever seem to pay attention to as a city are Garden Brunch Cafe and Jamaicaway. And while they deserve attention, I would contend that neither one of those really qualifies as “fine dining.”

I see the issue as being multifold. First, it’s my own ignorance, and I’m asking for help. What restaurants am I not thinking of? Where should we be paying more attention? Secondly, I believe that there haven’t been many opportunities for African-American chefs to lead kitchens in Nashville. Are there some up-and-coming cooks who deserve their own opportunity to shine leading a kitchen? Tell me about them, and I promise to check them out.

This is certainly not just a Nashville problem. Outside of Atlanta, there are plenty of metropolitan areas in the South with few or no black chefs leading notable kitchens. While I certainly applaud our effort to spotlight immigrant-run restaurants, it’s not like they represent a declining number of institutions. If we believe that diversity creates positive growth, we should do what we can to broaden the opportunities for everyone.

So I ask you, Bitesters, what do you think? How can we make Nashville a more inclusive community for chefs of all backgrounds? What do you expect from us here at the Scene and from the food media in general to help move the process along? Let’s start a discussion in the comments below.