Order Up! At the Table with Black Chefs
One Potato interviews with Black chefs, on family, culture, and feeding kids with intention—every day of the year
This Black History Month, we’re spotlighting Black chefs who are also parents, and getting real about what it actually looks like to raise healthy kids. Before we dive into this year, we’re revisiting our conversations with Black chefs from all of 2025. Read on!
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Revisiting Our Conversations with Black Chefs
As we begin the first week of Black History Month, we’re revisiting a set of conversations that stayed with us long after we hit publish. Over the past year, Black chefs, writers, historians, and educators invited us into their kitchens and their stories—sharing how food connects family, history, creativity, and care.
If you read these interviews when they first landed, this is a chance to return to them with fresh eyes. And if you missed one the first time around, consider this your invitation. These interviews were lessons in how food holds meaning, how food nourishes family close to home and family in community, and how everyone can learn more and do more for food access and food justice.
Food as Legacy, Memory, and Story
In our conversation with Chef Alexander Smalls, food became a language for memory and preservation. From tending his grandfather’s garden in the segregated South to becoming a globally celebrated chef, author, and cultural icon, Alexander shared how cooking and storytelling were ways of carrying history forward, especially when so much of that history was never written down.
His reflections gently remind us that the meals we cook today are shaping what our kids will remember tomorrow.
“When we gather around a home-cooked meal, we’re not just eating. We’re preserving legacy, celebrating love, and giving our kids a foundation of belonging.” -Chef Alexander Smalls
Read the full interview right here:
Cooking for Real Life (and Real Families)
Chef Tashia Farries brought us into a world where food is joyful, soulful, and unapologetically made with love. Whether she’s talking about her superpower of multitasking, learning confidence in the kitchen, or parenting as a team sport, her approach feels deeply familiar: cooking as care, expression, and connection.
“If you’re not cooking with love, get out the kitchen.” -Chef Tashia Farries
That same grounded honesty showed up in our conversation with Chef Cassandra Loftlin, whose work bridges professional kitchens, community health, and food access for kids. Cassandra shared stories that challenge assumptions—especially around so-called “picky eating”—and invite us to look more closely at what kids really need.
“These kids weren’t picky eaters, they were just hungry.” -Chef Cassandra Loftlin
Together, their voices speak directly to One Potato families: cooking doesn’t need to be perfect to be powerful. Access, intention, and care matter most.
Read the whole interview with Tashia right here:
And Cassandra’s interview here:
Food History Lives in Everyday Meals
Deb Freeman, culinary historian and host of Finding Edna Lewis, reminded us that history lives inside ordinary foods, whether we recognize it or not. Through her work, Deb centers Black women, home cooks, and culinary pioneers whose contributions shaped American cuisine but were often overlooked or erased.
Her reflections on Edna Lewis, cornbread, and the emotional weight of place, invite us to slow down and ask better questions about what’s on our plates.
“If I didn’t know this history, right in my own backyard, what else was I missing?” -Deb Freeman
Read the full interview here:
Teaching, Access, and the Next Generation
Chef Taffy Elrod reminded us that food isn’t just nourishment; it’s also a creative outlet and a teaching tool. Her work shows us that cooking can be playful, meaningful, and deeply educational all at once. We loved speaking with her about the recipes she developed for the history storybook and cookbook, The Juneteenth Cookbook: Fun and Easy Recipes and Activities for Kids and Families [Bookshop.org, Amazon].
“Food is a basic need, a human right—but it’s also an everyday creative outlet.” -Chef Taffy Elrod
That philosophy echoed strongly in our interview with Chef Liesha McKinley-Barnett, whose work as a chef, nutritionist, educator, and director of the African Diaspora Foodways Institute, is deeply rooted in trust, skill-building, and food justice. From teaching kids foundational cooking skills to meeting families where they are, Liesha shared a vision of food as empowerment.
“It’s all about giving them the right tools and guidance.” -Chef Liesha Mckinley-Barnett
Black History Month is about honoring the past AND listening in the present. These stories, identities, and cultures don’t live in a single month—they show up every day, in the meals we cook and the families we care for.
This week, we invite you to:
Revisit an interview that stayed with you
Read one you missed the first time
Share a story while you cook dinner
Try a recipe, ask a new question, or listen a little more closely