"She hosts the web series, " Our Block," about Black businesses and local heroes, organizes global travel and is the writer and content creator behind the website formerly called Feed the Malik. She's also the author of " American Soul: The Black History of Food in the United States " (National Geographic, $40), which traces the history of Black foodways in the U.S. from the first documented arrival of African peoples to a North American settlement in 1619 to today. The book, which came out in September, emphasizes just how deeply Black food history is American food history."
"For example, George Washington's enslaved workers maintained an ice house that enabled him to serve cold treats even during the summer, and his enslaved chef, Hercules Posey, was one of the country's first celebrity chefs. And James Hemings, an enslaved chef at Thomas Jefferson's plantation in Monticello, trained as a pastry chef in France while Jefferson was there and was probably one of the best-trained chefs in America at the time. He helped to popularize macaroni and cheese, then a well-known dish in Paris."
Anela Malik moved from diplomacy to storytelling, hosting Our Block and creating Feed the Malik content. She authored American Soul: The Black History of Food in the United States, tracing Black foodways from 1619 to today and emphasizing that Black food history is American food history. During slavery, Africans' agricultural and culinary labor underpinned the colonial economy while food and water access functioned as tools of control. African crops such as rice, yams, black-eyed peas, avocados and peanuts were brought across the Atlantic. The slave trade transformed sugar into an affordable commodity, generating wealth that shaped American cuisine. Enslaved chefs like Hercules Posey and James Hemings helped popularize dishes such as macaroni and cheese.
Read at Boston Herald
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