The Mamas
These women, their stories + legacies, are the foundation upon which Our Mothers’ Kitchens was built. Their voices were the quiet soundtrack of our Black womanhood, singing, long before we even knew their songs.
Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor
The Grand Mother, The Seed
Vertamae. Our sweet “grand mother”. Our chosen ancestor. In her own words, she be “a cosmic force. / culinary griot. / mother to two sagittarian daughters. / geechee girl.” She be the seed.
Ntozake Shange
The Inspiration
Zaki. Girl. If she can cook, you know we can. Her name means “she who has her own things”. She told us to claim what is ours. She be the inspiration.
![3CCC41D5-AB1E-4D81-8D7F-27809CCC5349-500-0000007FC3B0BACE[1667].JPG](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/585c0577ff7c50041b2e4f12/1554309402799-LZUA9XY0IO67XOXWTM16/3CCC41D5-AB1E-4D81-8D7F-27809CCC5349-500-0000007FC3B0BACE%5B1667%5D.JPG)
Zora Neale Hurston
The Spirit
Zora. This magical being has touched + influenced each one of these mamas. She was so special, the universe “was happy to break a few rules just to show [her} preference.” She be the spirit that feeds us.
Alice Walker
The Namesake
Alice. It was her poignant essay In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens that helped bring an idea to life. She reminds us to “Love the Folk. Love [ourselves]. Regardless.” She’s gifted us much. She be the namesake.
The Aunties
While the women listed here were not the main inspiration for this particular project, it is they who sparked the passion + need to pursue this work. It was these women here who led us down the path of exploring + celebrating the richness of our language + our diaspora’s cultures. It was the work of these women who fed us before OMK. It was these women who brought us together.
Geneva Smitherman
Author of Talkin’ + Testifyin’
We can not stress enough the significance of Auntie Geneva’s book Talkin’ and Testifyin’. If you don’t read nuthin else, read this. Her work encouraged us to embrace our language as a documentation of our history. “Think of black speech as having two dimensions: language & style.”
Toni Cade Bambara
Editor of The Black Woman: An Anthology
An unfuckwithable auntie / foremother, TCB, as she was affectionately called, has given us more than we deserve in this lifetime. She tells us, “our lives preserved. how it was and how it be. passing it along in the relay. this is what i work to do: to produce stories that save our lives.”
Eloise Greenfield
Author of Honey, I Love
Auntie Eloise plays with the innocence and naivety of childhood, while perfectly acknowledging the rapt observation and honest interpretation of a child’s mind. “Love means Daddy / Saying keep your mama company till I get back / And me doing it”
Octavia Butler
Author of Parable of the Sower
Our Auntie Octavia taught us that bleak though our present is, we are here, in these bodies, in these times for a reason. She inspires us to rely on self, community and the earth. “Purpose / Unifies us: / It focuses our dreams, / Guides our plans, / Strengthens our efforts. / Purpose / Defines us, / Shapes us, / And offers us / Greatness.”
The Babas
While OMK is undoubtedly badass WOMEN POWERED where would we be without our brothers, our babas, our friends, allies + partners? The kitchen is not solely a “woman’s space” + cooking is not solely “women’s work”. We have been blessed with some badass brothers who have taught + inspired us to go hard for our community. We do love our black men.
Frederick Douglass Opie
Author of Hog and Hominy
Michael Twitty
Author of The Cooking Gene
“It is the grandmother spirit - the strong grandmother, the centered grandmother, the no nonsense grandmother - that’s what’s missing in this culture. That’s who should be speaking to us, now. In this hour.”