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Subrina and Greg Collier, of the restaurant Leah & Louise in Charlotte.
With COVID restrictions finally easing, star-packed food festivals are beginning to return to the scene. But a new festival planned for this fall in Charlotte aims to bring a different focus than the big gatherings: celebrating Black chefs.
While Black chefs have long been an integral part of Charlotte’s food scene, they weren’t getting the recognition they deserved. That began to change in 2016, when a group of Black chefs in Charlotte put on a pop-up dinner, Soul Food Sessions, designed to showcase the city’s Black cooking talent and garner the chefs more visibility. The dinners became semi-regular events, and they eventually expanded to a three-city tour that took them to Washington, Baltimore, and Charleston. For the chefs, it was a vital means of exposure. ....

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