ABOUT THIS ARTIST
Tonya, a.k.a “The Food Griot” is a Culinary Historian & Nonfiction Storyteller, Cocktail Cognoscente and Creator/Host of “The Food Griot Shows” sharing inclusive stories behind “The Makings of America’s Cuisines & Culinary Scenes”. She helped cofound the nonprofit James Hemings Society with Chef Ashbell Mcelveen to uphold timeless Black culinary creativity that greatly influenced the development of American fine dining. Tonya’s an active Advisor on the Museum of Food & Drink’s (MOFAD) exhibition “African/American: Making the Nation’s Table”; she served as foremost food historian for best-selling Celebrity Chef cookbook “Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration” and for Harlem Hops, the nation’s first 100% Black-owned Beer Bar/Restaurant. Tonya was the first/only food historian showcased on the long-running iconic ABC daily show “The Chew”; she teaches wine education at a Black woman-owned boutique wineshop in Brooklyn (Good Wine) and serves as lead Culinary History Advisor for the Old Stone House of Brooklyn.
