Opening the Oyster: A Black Culinary Arts Extravaganza

The full course dinner will transport diners back to a day and time of extraordinary ingenuity and extravagance at the hands of culinary genius, Phillis. Phillis, a slave owned by Thomas Hazard of South County, was heralded in the The Jonny-Cake Papers (1882), cooked for Marie Antoinette, and baked jonny-cakes that “made one’s mouth water to look at, and this woman, known as grandfather’s old kitchen cook from Senegambia of Guinea, was an ‘artist’ capable of inspiring others while she tended the pot.” Phillis’ artistry provides a remarkable window into Rhode Island Black foodways.

The menu features dishes from Phillis’s repertoire, including woodcock, horse mackerel, coffee, apple dumplings, rice pudding, muffins, roasted duck, Rhode Island turkey, milk porridge, and much, much more.

This exciting Black History Month event includes re-enactor Estelle Barada as Phillis, and a talk on the Black culinary legacy of Phillis by public scholar Robb Dimmick. Proceeds from the event go toward providing swimming lessons for Rhode Island youth of color.