Chef Edouardo Jordan Hosts “Soul Of Seattle” To Showcase Black Chefs
Chef Edouardo Jordan Hosts “Soul Of Seattle” To Showcase Black Chefs In The Emerald City, Raises More Than $100K
Source: Courtesy of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle / Urban League
James Beard Award-Winning Chef Hosts Tasting & Dinner Feature Seattle Chefs Of Color
A new event celebrating the breadth of diversity in food from black chefs and brewmasters in the Pacific Northwest raised more than $100,000 to strengthen local services for people of color.
Chef Edouardo Jordan hosted the inaugural “Soul of Seattle” event Feb. 7 at the Northwest African American Museum in the Emerald City. Guests enjoyed a walk around tasting from ten black Seattle-area chefs and alcohol brands as well as gift bags, a silent auction and after-hours access to the museum’s exhibits.
The James Beard award winner, whose restaurants, JuneBaby, Salare and Lucinda Grain Bar are critically acclaimed, said although chefs of color are an important part of the fabric of the city’s culinary landscape, some aren’t widely known and need exposure to larger audiences.
Chef Jordan said he hoped that the evening would not only raise money for worthy causes but also introduce people to chefs they may not have known about and encourage them to patronize their restaurants.
“I’m proud to be here supporting my fellow chefs and broadcasting Seattle,” Jordan said. “We have a very unique culinary scene that needs to be spotlighted. This is an opportunity for networking and to support.”
Attendees enjoyed bites like jerk riblets from Chef Trey Lamont’s Jerk Shack, johnnycakes with andouille sausage from Chef Matt Lewis’ food truck, Where Ya At Matt, banana foster macarons from Chef Aliyah Davis’ Black Magic Sweets and ice-cold beers from the black-owned Metier Brewing Co.
“There are not that many opportunities to showcase businesses that are reflective of our community,” Rodney Hines, of the Metier Brewing Co. said, adding that he was thankful to Chef Jordan for his vision. “It’s not that often that you get that spirit of community in that way.”
Source: Courtesy of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle / Urban League
Following the tasting, the event – which was sponsored in part by Amazon, Whole Foods and Avennia Wines – then continued with a sit-down dinner featuring recipe interpretations from food historian and journalist Toni Tipton-Martin’s new cookbook, “Jubilee,” which highlights 200 years of African American cooking. Each attendee received a copy of the tome to take home, as well as a “Soul of Seattle” tote, t-shirt and tumbler.
While the exact figure is still being tallied, the event raised more than $100,000, and all of the proceeds will benefit the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle and Rainer Scholars, an education enrichment program that creates a pipeline to college for minority students from low-income backgrounds.
Reggie Brown, chairman of the board of Rainer Scholars, said the donations would go a long way towards supporting young Seattleites.
“We fund the kids who have the biggest obstacles and help support them along the way,” Brown said.
The Northwest African American Museum itself chronicles the history and contributions of African Americans in the Pacific Northwest from colonial times, to the pioneering days, through the Civil Rights Movement to the present day. The museum is one of several that guests can visit for half price during Seattle Museum Month, where visitors who stay at downtown Seattle hotels get half-price admission to more than 40 of the city’s museums. Seattle Museum Month runs through Feb. 29.
