Move Over Taco Tuesday

Did you know that you have a 12-year-old enslaved boy named Edmond Albius to thank for your vanilla coffee? And, well, almost everything vanilla for that matter? If you didn’t know that tidbit of Black history, you’re not alone. But you would have known if you followed Black Food Fridays.

Known as @BlackFoodFridays on TikTok and Instagram, Black content creator KJ Kearney is helping bring Black restaurateurs, food, and history to the forefront of the conversation with impeccable content and incredible facts. What’s inspiring about KJ Kearney is not just his work as a Black creator, but the fact that his work empowers the Black community as a whole — past, present, and future.

“Y’all like vanilla? The vanilla orchid contains both male and female parts,” Kearney explains in the aforementioned video. “But even though the flower is self-fertile, it can’t pollinate itself. And because of how the inside of the plant is shaped, vanilla’s pollen is inaccessible to most pollinating insects. In the 1830s a French colonist hired Charles Morren, who was a professor of botany in Belgium. He was tasked with developing a method to hand-pollinate vanilla. He did it! But his technique was too slow and complicated for it to be profitable.”

“Enter Edmond Albius,” Kearney continues on with his explanation. “As a 12-year-old slave, he invented a technique to pollinate vanilla orchids quickly and profitably. How’d he do it? He legit took a blade of grass to separate the anther (the male part) from the stigma (the female part), and used his thumb to smear the pollen from the male part to the female part. And I’m not exaggerating. That is literally what he did. And here’s a shocker: Edmond never saw a dime from the industry he created with his own hands, as he died in poverty in 1880. His technique, which is still used today, helped the world produce over 7,500 tonnes of vanilla in 2018.”

Black people have proven innovative with their culinary skills for centuries, and now more than ever the time is right to support not only Black creatives like KJ Kearney, but also the entirety of Black culture. When I think of Black food I think of community. I think of flavor. And I think of resourcefulness.

Such resourcefulness, compounded by deep historical ties to both West Africa and the chattel slave era in America, is well demonstrated by the continued popularity of chitlins, for example. While chitlins have never appealed to me — particularly as someone who doesn’t quite fancy pork — I am in awe of how a dish composed of pig intestines has remained an inspiring albeit polarizing Black delicacy. Chitlins are most commonly known for being a dish that enslaved people ate as a way to make good use of the meat scraps they were forced to eat. But even after slavery was abolished, chitlins persisted as a way to unite Black folks.

As noted by Atlas Obscura, “...chitlins came to represent more than sustenance. During the era of Jim Crow laws, they were a code. Black performers knew that venues serving hog intestines were safe. This collection of restaurants and music venues became known as the “Chitlin Circuit.””

While it is both beautiful and tragic that Black people had to bond over food to ensure their basic safety as recently as last century, it is worth noting that chitlins were more than “slave food.” For many Black Americans, whose roots also trace directly back to Africa, there is a certain pride in eating chitlins. In that regard, chitlins aren’t for those who are less than; instead, they are an example of how West African tradition treasures the entirety of an animal — without disregarding certain parts as undesirable scraps.

History is indeed compelling, and looking at the past provides us with context for the present and a framework for the future. KJ Kearney understands this innately as a Black food historian who also has his finger on the pulse of what folks want to see on their IG feeds. Kearney shares not only historical Black Food Facts, but also features the most drool-worthy food on the Black Food Friday Instagram page. (And when I say drool-worthy, I mean drool-worthy.)

Kearney’s work is pivotal now more than ever, as we bring Black voices to the forefront and work to help businesses stay afloat during the pandemic. Although the scrumptious food he posts is a blessing to our IG feeds, the real blessing is the publicity gained by Black businesses thanks to his incredible work as a Black creator bettering our community. All KJ Kearney wants us to do is eat Black-owned food on Fridays — while perhaps also learning a thing or two about Black history in the process. And in a society that has basically made Taco Tuesday an unwritten law, is that really so much to ask for?

So next time you drink vanilla coffee, thank Edmond Albius. And next time you learn a #BlackFoodFact, thank KJ Kearney. Oh, and this Friday? Well, you already know what to do.