SOUP: THE STOCK OF THE PEOPLE

This interactive cooking workshop centers the deep cultural roots of soup in African American and Black food traditions. Together, we’ll prepare a hearty soup using seasonal produce in a pressure cooker (Instant Pot) while reflecting on ancestral food practices, kitchen stories, and how shared meals nourish both body and community.

As we cook, we’ll dialog together about the role of soup — and stock — in agrarian and culinary history: as medicine, resourcefulness, comfort, and resistance. We'll explore how our grandmothers, aunties, and neighbors used what was available from their gardens, markets, and scraps to create meals that fed generations — and how we can carry those lessons forward today.

By the time the soup is ready, we’ll share a bowl together and engage in dialogue:

● What food memories do you carry?

● What does it mean to cook with care?

● How do we reconnect to land, tradition, and each other through what we eat?

Each participant will leave with a printed recipe card, a spice packet, and a prompt to host a shared meal of their own. This session is hands-on, reflective, and rooted in joy.

D'REAL GRAHAM: THE PRESENTER

"I am D’Real Graham (he/they), a farmer in the Patuxent River Corridor. Food and land — along with the stories that unite people — are things that matter deeply to me. I organize community gatherings while working with farmers, young people, elders, and neighbors in both the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. My work focuses on creating spaces for Black communities to reconnect with their food heritage through cooking, sharing, remembering, and (re)imagining.

I currently develop the Spice Creek Supper Club as a project in Brandywine, Maryland. The project began as an idea to create a home-like dining experience, where people prepare meals together while sharing conversations about their origins and future directions. The initiative has evolved into a platform that provides connection, cultural exchange, and care services to communities who rarely experience these opportunities.

I am deeply thankful to those who taught me how to extend meals, grow food, and practice the art of deep listening when others share their life stories through food. My goal for this conference is to share more than a recipe — to offer a particular kind of feeling. The sense of belonging together, the warmth of gathering, and the feeling of being exactly where we should be.

I am eager to learn from others while sharing something authentic, basic, and beneficial. Not perfect. Just true".