You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.

Ben Franklin's World is a production of Colonial Williamsburg Innovation Studios.

You know, I defined those culinary artists who work on behalf of their enslaved sisters and brothers as culinary activists.

They were actually working on behalf of all Africans.

And many of them were involved directly

or indirectly in the Underground Railroad.

Sometimes their homes or businesses were local headquarters.

A few even hired enslaved runaways to work at their places of business.

Others collected money, clothing, and food for a specific drop-off place connected with the

Underground Railroad. And those places were sometimes in eating establishment.

Hello and welcome to episode 404 of Ben Franklin's World, the podcast dedicated to helping you learn more about how the people and events of our early American past have shaped the present day world we live in.

And I'm your host, Liz Covart.

Did you know that many of the food traditions that we define as distinctly American cuisine today

have roots in African culinary traditions and history? Diane Spivey, a culinary historian and author

of three culinary history books, joins us to help us uncover the rich and complex legacy of

African and African-American foodways and how those foodways have helped

establish the United States. Now, during our conversation, Diane reveals how African and

African-American cooking made European colonial success possible, the ways African-Americans contributed to

and supported the Continental Army and American success in the American

Revolution, and how African American chefs, bakers, and cooks worked as culinary activists

during the anti-slavery and abolition movements. But first, I've been experimenting with a new

type of newsletter for you. It's called History Behind the Headlines. This is a

...