Dine Diaspora Creates Meaningful and Authentic Connections Through African Food Culture

Nina Oduro and Maame Boakye have often been passionate about cultivating meaningful connections inside their communities. So when they reconnected in Washington D.C., decades soon after initially conference at a networking event in their native Ghana, they lamented the transactional nature of relationships in the politically driven funds.

“I think the obstacle that we have been dealing with was [the difficulty in] forming further connections with folks further than skilled life and ‘let’s grab lunch for an goal,’” says Oduro.

But D.C., in her words, is also a transient town with a very varied inhabitants from the African diaspora and beyond. There had to be a way to carry people from these several cultures with each other. 

“Food,” states Boakye, “was the respond to.”

The two gals made Dine Diaspora, a Black-women of all ages owned and operated agency based mostly in D.C., as a result of which they have since made functions connecting people today by way of African diaspora foods society. The organization launched in 2014 with a Signature Dinner that includes Ghanaian-American Eric Adjepong, a finalist on year sixteen of Bravo’s Leading Chef. Over a a few-course food of jollof rice paella with scallops and hen, beef ribs and cornbread with honey butter confit, and bofrot with peanut butter ice cream, brûlée banana, and strawberry paper, Adjepong took the little collecting of 20 guests via the backstory of every single dish served. That storytelling element was crucial, Oduro says, as chefs are so frequently tasked with executing somebody else’s vision when employed for non-public events—but in this format, there was an personal connection amongst diners and all the things on the table. 

The initial dinner collection finished in 2018 but the pair have expanded to internet hosting activities like Chop Bar, an annual pop-up foods pageant infusing art and audio (hold an eye on their IG for the upcoming day), which will take its identify from makeshift restaurants observed in Ghana. They have also teamed up with Fb to existing Electronic Diasporas, a virtual sequence showcasing creatives from the African diaspora at the intersection of foods, travel, and life-style. Their Dish and Sip speaker series, which operates in the course of the yr in New York and D.C., offers a system for foods sector leaders to go over difficulties and experiences like the lack of variety and disparity in payment. 

But as Oduro and Boakye have sourced cooks for their rising roster of events, they have observed a shortage of girls in the talent pool—an difficulty they have now integrated into their mission.

“We did not want to be reinforcing constructions in which females have not been equipped to be centered, chosen, or positioned in areas to contend with everyone, specifically Black women of all ages,” claims Oduro.

They resolved the imbalance with Black Gals in Food (BWIF), an initiative introduced in 2018 that “identifies, amplifies, and supports Black ladies in the foodstuff and beverage industry to progress their work and lead to a far more equitable and sustainable food method,” according to their internet site. Just about every March, BWIF honors above 30 girls globally as element of Women’s Historical past Month, throughout groups like video game-changer, innovator, trailblazer, creator, culinarian, and amplifier. The chosen honorees are celebrated all over the month and over and above with networking and enhancement options.

A person of this year’s honorees is Janique Edwards, the COO and Co-Founder of EatOkra, an application that connects meals fans to far more than 11,000 Black-owned eating places, eateries, bars, wineries, and food items trucks throughout the U.S. Edwards admits that earning the award has assisted with the imposter syndrome she frequently combats as a lady in foods and tech.