Black culture is food, and food invites people into dialogue with each other and with history. Sybil and I’s family-run cafe is a neighborhood cafe, but we see it as a place where people share more than just food but the larger stories they consume. Food tells truths, and our space is a place for the exchange of stories and ideas.
- Omar Tate and Sybil St. Aud Tate Through dinner parties, pop-ups, events and more, Omar is expanding the conversation about Black culture in food beyond his cafe, Honeysuckle Provisions. Esquire Named the magazine’s “Chef of the Year,” Sybil is a Haitian-American chef with a degree in African-American studies specializing in Caribbean culture and aesthetics.
Courtesy of Omar Tate and Sybil St. Aud Tate
What is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth, which commemorates the liberation of enslaved Black people in the United States, began in Texas, where the celebration is most popular. We didn’t grow up knowing about the traditions of this holiday, but as awareness of the celebration has grown, we have come to see it as an opportunity to celebrate the meaning and importance of the holiday in Black culture with our families and communities.
Our Juneteenth menu blends Philadelphia and Sybil’s Haitian roots with the Black heritage of the South. These dishes highlight the resilience, joy and strength of our people while celebrating ingredients that reflect the richness of our ancestors.
Creating a Juneteenth Menu
Historically, southern Juneteenth (June 19th) celebrations have centered around pit-cooked barbecue. Our Juneteenth menus include sides and sweets that speak to the Black American experience beyond the trauma of enslavement and colonization. These menus highlight the resilience, joy and strength of our people while celebrating ingredients that reflect the richness of our ancestry.
Carson Downing
Salad Russe (Haitian potato salad)
Caribbean cuisine reflects the influence of European and African traditions, which is why creamy “Russian” potato salad evolved into a popular Haitian dish. This pink twist combines pickled beets, sweet pickle relish, eggs, carrots and potatoes.
Carson Downing
Black-eyed pea hummus
The cafe substitutes purple beans (a relative of the black bean) for chickpeas and adds bay leaves, thyme and miso for a unique flavor. Varieties of peas, including purple and black beans, were brought to the Americas from West Africa during the transatlantic slave trade.
Carson Downing
Picris Pimiento Cheese
Our pimento cheese dip is enhanced with crunchy pickles, a vinegar-based Haitian condiment made with Scotch bonnet peppers, carrots and cabbage, along with our own Creole spice blend, showcasing the fusion of cultures reflected in the popular Southern dish.
Carson Downing
Bene Chocolate Pinwheel Cookies
Benne seeds are a traditional variety of sesame that are central to Gullah Geechee cuisine of South Carolina.The not-too-sweet shortbread spiral cookies are made with two different doughs: chocolate and nutty, buttery benne seed flavored.
Omar Tate
Symbolizing the blood of our ancestors, red has also been used as a symbol of strength and spiritual importance since before the slave trade.
Omar Tate
Carson Downing
Red Drink Water Ice
Red drinks are a Juneteenth tradition. Our homage is a twist on Philadelphia’s signature water ice, a sorbet-like frozen fruit dessert. The texture is soft and easy to scoop; not as fine as Italian ice, but not as coarse as iced granita. Classic drink colors include hibiscus, red soda, and Kool-Aid, but here we blended it with fresh strawberries and our own homemade strawberry syrup.
