Antioch, Calif. – August 11, 2025 – The award-winning nonprofit, The Global Food and Drink Initiative (GFDI), is celebrating a 5-year milestone since establishing its mission to celebrate and preserve Black food history and culture in 2020. Founded on the pillars of education, storytelling and advocacy, the organization continues to pioneer new narratives and paths in which communities and the world can learn about the significance of Black food and the hands who prepare it, past, present and future.
“This year has been challenging for the country, businesses and nonprofits for so many reasons. But one thing for sure is that we continue to firmly believe that the work we are doing serves a greater good in telling food stories that are essential to the story of Africa, America and beyond,” says Sheree Williams, executive director of The Global Food and Drink Initiative.
The organization’s work is an expansion of what began in 2009 through its groundbreaking digital and print publication Cuisine Noir. The publication is the country’s (and the world’s) first Black culinary lifestyle media outlet dedicated to telling Black food stories across the African diaspora and bringing awareness of Black foodways that inform global cuisines today.
“In 2020, I envisioned expanding our impact beyond a publication that included not just storytelling but education. How can we teach communities and the wider public about our rich Black food history? In addition, how can we advocate to make sure that what has or has not been told is rooted in truth and historical facts? This laid the groundwork for our mission and how we move forward,” says Williams.
Why This Work is Important
In 1827, Robert Roberts is recorded as writing the book, “The House Servant’s Directory: A Monitor for Private Families.” In 1866, Malinda Russell wrote “A Domestic Cook Book: Containing a Careful Selection of Useful Receipts for the Kitchen.”
The four African countries of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Nigeria produce more than 70% of the world’s cocoa beans. James Hemings (a formerly enslaved chef of Thomas Jefferson) created the dish macaroni and cheese. George Crum created potato chips in 1853 after catering to a request from a patron to make sliced potatoes thin.
George Washington Carver invented more than 300 products from peanuts, sweet potatoes and other plants. In 2017, Fawn Weaver introduced the story of Nathan “Uncle Nearest” Green, the first African American master distiller on record in the United States and former slave who taught behemoth Jack Daniel how to make Tennessee whiskey. In 2023, Pronghorn honored the legacy of Edmond Albius — a former slave and prodigy botanist from Réunion in Africa whose vanilla pollination technique changed the world — in the creation of their bourbon whiskey.
What do all of these facts have in common? The absence of Black history in formal education settings and within the story of America has led to the erasure of Black historical figures whose contributions have undeniably benefited communities and the world.
In recent years, Black communities have championed their cultural connections to foods and traditions that inform their identity. This includes discovering, learning and celebrating their culinary roots that for historical reasons have not been taught, in addition to telling their own stories about their ancestral legacies and present-day contributions and innovations.
The Global Food and Drink Initiative’s work is dedicated to ensuring Black food history and culture is no longer missing, erased or excluded from American and global conversations.
“The saying, ‘Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are,’ is so powerful because food is identity and culture. The inhumane act of slavery stole the identities of many African Americans, along with the negligence of telling America’s true story to everyone, not just Black people. We’re passionate about filling this gap in awareness, knowledge and education about Black food that speaks to who we are as people of African descent,” says Williams.
Making an Impact
Through in-depth storytelling on both Cuisine Noir and its podcast Diaspora Food Stories, The Global Food and Drink Initiative is connecting and empowering Black communities, from the home cook to the professional chef and everyone in between.
The nonprofit officially launched The Global Black Food Learning Hub on its website, which will feature curated articles rooted in sharing historical and current-day information designed to be educational and resourceful.
In addition, under its education pillar, the organization will look to offer community courses as well as publish Black foodway guides and other special projects that will offer discovery, healing and community connection.
“As the first organization to go as deep as we do to every corner of the globe where people of African descent are, we’re excited about the journey we are charting ahead and the impact it will have on humanity. Education is paramount to preserving Black food history and culture and it is overdue that communities have a safe place that is accessible to learn and grow as individuals.”
Funds raised and donated to The Global Food and Drink Initiative allow the organization to conduct research, work with a global team of journalists, connect with history makers and provide accessible platforms for learning and sharing.
Read the latest stories on Cuisine Noir at cuisinenoir.com, informative conversations on Diaspora Food Stories at diasporafoodstories.com and The Global Black Food Learning Hub at globalforgood.org.
Sheree Williams is available for interviews and speaking engagements to share more about The Global Food and Drink Initiative’s work, the importance of cultural storytelling and leading connections of identity and connections through. To request, send an email to press@globalforgood.org.
About The Global Food and Drink Initiative
The Global Food and Drink Initiative (GFDI) is a James Beard Award-winning 501 (c) (3) nonprofit with the mission of celebrating food cultures and preserving food histories of the African diaspora through its impact pillars of storytelling, education and advocacy. Its work includes publishing the country’s first Black culinary lifestyle digital and print magazine Cuisine Noir, hosting the podcast Diaspora Food Stories and leading educational projects that create safe places and accessible platforms and resources to learn.