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Richmond CTTT co-CEOs Marsha Summers and Danita Rountree Green (Photo by Jay Paul)
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Green beans and sliced tomatoes made by Midge Falconer for the CTTT event in November (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Falconer talks to a guest during the gathering. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
Seared okra and spiced lady apples, mac and cheese and pillowy cornbread, and ham biscuits and black-eyed pea salad top tables around the room. The recipes for the African American Fusion fundraiser event are pulled from the pages of cookbooks written by grand dame of Southern cooking Edna Lewis, singer Patti LaBelle and chef Carla Hall, along with cooks’ personal favorites.
Held last November, the gathering of 80-plus was the largest to date for the Richmond chapter of Coming to the Table (CTTT), a national organization that works to promote racial healing. Months later, the coronavirus pandemic halted in-person dinners. Then in late May, George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed by police during an arrest in Minneapolis, his death sparking global outrage and protests.
While some people are just discovering the truths about systemic racism, here in Richmond at the largest and only nonprofit chapter of CTTT, participants have been having uncomfortable conversations related to race for years, using food as a vehicle to foster connections.
“Through food you learn about culture and how the food connects you to that new experience,” says Midge Falconer, a CTTT facilitator and a member of the organization's culinary team. She describes the process of researching African American cookbooks, creating the dishes and exploring the narratives linked to them as “invigorating.” For the November dinner, she made green beans and sliced tomatoes, a celebratory dish enjoyed on Emancipation Day and found in Lewis’ “The Taste of Country Cooking.”
While the recipes brought to life at that dinner were deeply rooted in the history and culture of the African American community, the majority of those in attendance, and in the kitchen, were white.
“Food is good for lubricating people’s physical and emotional state to address questions that are difficult,” says Doug Steele, a fellow member of the culinary team who encourages attendees to sit with people who “don’t look like them.”
Richmond CTTT chapter co-founders Danita Rountree Green, an author and trauma coach, and Martha Rollins, a founder of the nonprofit Boaz & Ruth and a descendant of Robert E. Lee, met a decade ago. The duo quickly bonded over their past work related to race, initially launching “listening lunches,” bringing together Black and white friends to have difficult conversations over a meal. In 2014, those meetups would evolve to become CTTT.
“Coming to the Table was nothing I planned to do,” says Green, a Richmond native. “Martha and I realized we have a lot of the same commitments and thought, how can we come together and create a new narrative?”
Food is a part of that narrative. Also serving as a facilitator, Steele poses questions at the table such as, “What do you do when you hear someone say something racially problematic?”
But sometimes it’s not the questions asked, it’s the stories told. Current co-CEO Marsha Summers says shared experiences have stuck with her the most over the years.
“To hear mothers talking about their own sons, and in particular the fear and specific experiences that they had to live through and live with … and then have the, ‘Oh, I haven’t had to face that’ moment,” she says has been deeply impactful.
Summers believes food helps open doors to dialogue. “When you have food there, it provides that feeling of immediate belonging,” she says.
She also recalls when CTTT Board Secretary Barbara S. Brown made pigs’ feet for one of the meetings. Historically considered scraps, pigs’ feet were often fed to slaves and considered a staple in poor households, later adopted by Southern chefs and touted as “trotters” on fine-dining menus.
“Someone learned how to make pigs’ feet because nobody else wanted them,” Summers says she realized. “I never learned how to make pigs’ feet, I grew up with chops and bacon.”
Brown, whose African American cookbook collection once reached 300, says, “It made my heart feel really good to hear Marsha say, ‘Barbara, I love your pigs’ feet,’ ” she recalls. “It’s good to know people from other cultures enjoy your food. Personally, since CTTT, I have learned more about my ancestors and what happened in the lives and times of slaves.”
While the pandemic has paused physical dinners and meetings, virtual events with presentations, guest speakers and weekly check-ins allow CTTT to continue its efforts to promote conversation and work toward racial equality.
“How can we help our friends who are not so big at understanding the current, what we call, ‘race pandemic’?” Green asks. “How are we using our energies to make sure our message gets across that we are a blended family?”
Currently, Brown, Summers and Green are working through Virginia Humanities on a film project called “Linked: Stories Across the Color Line” that showcases white and Black people coming together across the commonwealth and sharing stories. There is also discussion of a possible CTTT cookbook that would highlight past discussions, in addition to recipes.
“We are moving forward and planning to take this city by storm in a way that’s not just Richmond, but nationally, to be able to let the world know who we are,” Green says.
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