Hattie Carthan Annual Food Heritage Festival June 12, 2010

The Hattie Carthan Community Garden
Cordially invites you to attend:
The Hattie Carthan 6th annual Food Heritage Festival

Our Food Heritage: Foods from the African Diaspora

One of the most interesting things about the food of the African diaspora is how closely it connects the people who prepare it, often without them even realizing it. There are several characteristics that almost all cuisines of the African diaspora share: seasoning techniques; cooking techniques such as stewing and frying; the prevalence of starchy mashes or porridges eaten with stews and soups or on their own; and a preference for offal. Across cultures, there is heavy use of chillies, okra, dark leafy greens, smoked or salted meats and fish and corn in various forms. Dishes like stewed oxtails, fried okra and beans with rice (made with various types of beans and flavored with meat or chillies) are common. Among African, Latin and Caribbean cuisines, ingredients are nearly identical, most likely due to the similarity in climate. Tropical foods such as plantains, cassava, coconuts and palm oil are staples in West African and Afro-Brazilian cooking. The distinctive ingredients of southern cuisine, as well as the distinctive styles of cooking them, have been common for centuries in Africa. Sweet potatoes, okra, chicken and fish rolled in meal or batter and deep fried, greens and cowpeas boiled with pork and served with pot liquor, and corn bread in many varieties form the basis of a regional cuisine whose roots are connected to Africa. We invite you to taste our Rich Heritage!

All dishes are home made some grown in the garden
*Home brewed beverages available * Live blues music

G to Bedford/Nostrand. B38 to Marcy & Lafayette Ave
Questions? 718-638-3566 or hattiecarthangarden@yahoo.com