Caribbean Brooklyn: Cuisine and Culture

Brooklyn’s Caribbean diaspora covers a vast geographic and cultural range: immigrants from Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and other countries have all settled in Central Brooklyn, maintaining distinct elements of each of their cultures, customs, and values, while also blending them. This long-standing community has created a pan-Caribbean atmosphere in neighborhoods like Crown Heights through a similarly diverse yet blended restaurant culture.

But Central Brooklyn is rapidly gentrifying and many longstanding Caribbean and West Indian residents are moving to other neighborhoods or out of New York all together. How will local restaurants evolve in this changing borough?

Join us at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum for a conversation moderated by Jessica B. Harris, author and noted scholar of African diaspora cuisines and culinary history. She'll be joined by Jack Summers, founder of Jack from Brooklyn; Colette Burnett, chief magic maker at Super Wings; Sonya Samuel, founder and owner of Bacchanal Sauce; and Trevor Smith of Tower Isles Patties. Tastings to follow.

Panelists:

• Jessica B. Harris, PhD, professor of English, Queens College/CUNY; author, High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America, The Africa Cookbook: Tastes of a Continent (moderator)


• Colette Burnett, chief magic maker at Super Wings


• Sonya Samuel, founder and owner, Bacchanal Sauce LLC


• Trevor Smith, brand manager, Tower Isles Patties


• Jack Summers, founder, Jack from Brooklyn

This program is part of the Museum of Food and Drink’s MOFAD City series and is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Check out MOFAD City's full lineup at programs.mofad.org.