Tantrum Agency Collaborates with Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD) to Curate, Design "Mapping The Nation’s Table"
A digital map highlighting the legacy of Black foodways
On February 23, 2021, the Museum of Food and Drink launched Mapping the Nation’s Table: The African American Legacy Foodways Project. This digital interactive map celebrates the legacy of Black foodways by shining a light on African American food and drink producers all over the US.
Brooklyn, NY – The Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD), the museum that brings the world of food to life with exhibits you can taste, touch and smell, launched a virtual map “Mapping the Nation’s Table: The African American Legacy Foodways Project” of Black-owned food and drink businesses as part of their upcoming exhibition African/American: Making the Nation’s Table, which will open in 2022 in Harlem, New York at The Africa Center.
This ongoing digital project highlights Black food and drink businesses across the country. There is a special emphasis on Legacy businesses: these farms, restaurants, and stores have been operating for 50 years or more and are still serving communities today. Black food and drink business owners are encouraged to submit their own ventures to the interactive map: mofad.org/aa-map-submit.
“In the 400-plus years since enslaved Africans first arrived on the North American continent, African Americans have been the bedrock of American cuisine,” said African/American lead curator Dr. Jessica B. Harris. “For centuries, we worked the fields, harvested the crops, wrote the recipes, brewed the beer, distilled the whiskey, cooked the food, set the table, served the food, cleared the table, and emptied the chamber-pots. In so doing, we made this nation's table -- and our influence continues today.”
Mapping the Nation’s Table was designed and curated in collaboration with Tantrum Agency, a design and branding firm in Atlanta, GA.
"When MOFAD engaged us to collaborate with them on a digital experience for 'African/American: Making the Nation's Table,' we knew it was a project we HAD to be a part of," said David Tann, founder and creative director of Tantrum Agency. "In working with the team to identify many of the staples of the African American culinary story in the U.S., we were blown away ourselves by the deep, rich history we uncovered. We believe 'Mapping the Nation's Table' has the potential to be a go-to resource for African American cuisine in the U.S. and were honored to have had the opportunity to design an experience that celebrates the countless Black farmers, chefs and food and drink producers who have laid the foundation for American food culture."
MOFAD was founded on a single belief: Food is Culture and remains committed to providing a virtual space to celebrate American food culture and the people who shaped it.
About African/American: Making the Nation’s Table:
African Americans have long defined America’s culinary and cultural identity on a national scale. Curated by Dr. Jessica B. Harris, widely considered the world’s foremost expert on the foods of the African Diaspora, African/American: Making the Nation’s Table is the country’s first major exhibition to recognize and celebrate African American contributions to our nation’s cuisine.
About MOFAD:
As the most universal aspect of human existence, food is a powerful lens for understanding each other and the world around us. MOFAD is a new kind of museum that uses this power to create cultural change toward a more thoughtful, equitable, and delicious future.
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