Patchwork

Today's episode is about the inventor, entrepreneur, electrician, Army Veteran and innovator that was Frederick McKinley Jones.

Known to hold up to 61 patents before his death. His works span the fields of refrigeration, engineering, and audio visual.

A true testament that you don't have to always start at the bottom. It is possible to take what you know at the top and work your way back to a stronger foundation.

Frederick McKinley Jones, Inventor born - African American Registry (aaregistry.org)

Lineage | Black History in the Cold Chain: Frederick McKinley Jones (onelineage.com)

Frederick McKinley Jones (1893-1961) • (blackpast.org)

RECOMMENDED READING:

Cooking For The Culture - Toya Boudy

Cooking for the Culture: Recipes and Stories from the New Orleans Streets to the Table: Boudy, Toya: 9781682687451: Amazon.com: Books

New Orleans Chef, Author, & Culinarian (toyaboudy.com)

Tomorrow, we kick of Black History Month for the 2024, which means it's time to talk about some of the creatives, innovators and shapeshifters that contributed to some of the foundational work in the food, beverage & hospitality industry.

It's going to be a wild ride so strap in!!!

Majority of my career, I was expected to put up with nonsense, clean up what had been the normal mediocrity, learn every position, fill in everyone's gaps at the expense of my well being and self respect. This was part of the reason why I knew if I was going to continue to be in this business, I was going to have to give myself the lane to create my own narrative. 

Its not my space to save everyone else's world at the expense of your own. 

This time, we're continuing going down the lane of Afrodesiac by talking about a small portion of my upbringing in Europe and what that climate change looked like when coming back to Louisiana a bit older. To add to this, it is important to touch upon some of the origins of my business vibe story. Business vibe....that sounds crazy. Ha, but here we are. 

....next chapter. 

And as promised, this one piggy backs off of yesterday's Music Monday choice. 

Also, Art by the incomparable @GDBee

Today, we're kicking off with the first episode of Music Mondays (MSquared) where I talk about certain songs, albums and artists that find their way into playing a significant role in my culinary landscape and food journey. 

As a fun fact, for this particular set of stories -OneRepublic's debut album Dreaming Out Loud was actually the third act released on Mosley Music Group (aka Timbaland's label). Goodbye Apathy is another favorite of mine from that album. 

....as we truck along through this book, its time to talk about one of my most favorite times on the planet, intermixed with one of the most hated in the kitchen space. 

Today's breakapart of AfroDesiac touches on a small pocket of job experiences that make up who I am on a daily basis. 

Moseying right along with another chapter or more specifically, we're talking about some of the first dives into the professional kitchen world. 

First of all, IYKYK when it comes to Mr. Khalil's episode pic - All Power To The People. This one is gonna be a great one but its gonna get LOOOOOOOOOOOONG. For some context, I interviewed Khalil, the first time, about a year ago when I was still doing these but was getting tired of some of the responses I had been receiving from the outside world. Enter Khalil. We chopped it up for so many hours it was like I had known him for forever and it reinvigorated by drive to do this. We spent a lot of this first episode getting to know each other, the importance of knowing and cultivating your heritage and how connecting the dots folds into so many spectrums of your life. 

Get used to Mr. Khalil. You're about to see his face up for a minute....