Photo by Michael T. Davis Photography
Ashanté M. Reese is the author of the new book Gather: Black Food, Nourishment, and the Art of Togetherness. Her other books include Black Food Geographies. She is an associate professor of African and African diaspora studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
Q: What inspired you to write Gather?
A: I’ve been working in and around food justice for a while now—over 15 years. A lot of my earlier work was focused on diagnosing what isn’t working in the food system, theorizing what race and racism has to do with access, and how urban residents in particular navigate inequality.
With Gather, I wanted to think about food from a different angle. Not diagnosing a problem. Not rehashing debates on what counts as food justice. I wanted to think and write about how Black people, who are often framed by deficit models when it comes to food, are gathering around food and what food justice movements might learn from those gatherings.
I wanted to think less about particular food items and whether or not they’re healthy and more about the sometimes-unspoken values and practices that we need to grow in order to create more equitable food systems all around. To find that, I looked closely at practices that I had some sense of being integral to sustaining communities.
Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?
A: I decided pretty early that I wanted this project to be multimodal, meaning – I wanted people to be able to share things with me that they selected or narrated on their own terms alongside me doing traditional anthropological research like interviewing and participant observation (hanging out with folks in their normal, everyday lives).
I also did what some called autoethnography, which was the process of me mining relevant experiences from my own life as “data” to be examined alongside other artifacts. I created an online database where people could submit recipes, memories/stories, photos, and videos.
I also let people indicate if they’d like to sit for an oral history interview with me. For those, I recorded them on Zoom. Once the recordings were complete, I sent the video, audio, and transcripts to the people who were interviewed. I wanted them to know that even though they contributed to my research, their stories were first and foremost their own. I hoped that it would add to their family archives.
I also put out a call to people to invite me to a family reunion. I got tons of family reunion invitations, which was a surprise. I didn’t think so many people would want a stranger/anthropologist tagging along with them at their family function. But over three dozen people invited me!
And you know what was so cool? For the ones I attended, no one thought it was weird at all. I introduced myself as an anthropologist who was studying Black food traditions.
People were intrigued. They asked questions. And then they left me along to eat, play with people’s kids, fix plates, etc. just like I was a family member. Those by far are my favorite memories of this process.
Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: Before I started the research for this project, I was playing around with the word “scraps.” I was thinking about how so many narratives about Black food rehearse the idea that Black folks were always given the scraps and made do with them.
So I was thinking – what if I sort of reclaim that word? I liked the idea of creating something out of nothing or the role of ingenuity in making a meal or a life. But it really wasn’t working for me.
The word scraps gestures toward something incomplete. But then I thought: it isn’t the scraps as much as how you bring them together. That is how I got to Gather, which was perfect because I already knew that I wanted to select specific sites/experiences that bring people together.
I am not religious, though I guess I would say I am culturally Christian because that is how I grew up. But I am moved by the idea of gathering that comes up in the scripture that reads, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them."
When I started thinking about the book, I simply replaced "there I am among them" with "magic happens." I really do think that anything worth doing has to be done with others, so I let that be a guiding mantra.
Q: The author Spring Council said of the book, “This work is more than a book--it is a powerful and urgent call to remember, to gather, and to nourish our future.” What do you think of that assessment?
A: Oh, man. These are beautiful words from an author who wrote a beautiful book. I actually got a chance to interview Spring for Gather! I didn’t include it in the book, but I interviewed her about her work with planning and hosting community dinners in Durham. She’s an amazing gatherer who is deeply committed to nourishing people, so seeing her generous read of my book means a lot to me.
When I was writing it, I wasn’t sure if the underlying message that how we gather food and each other is just as important as what we actually choose to consume was coming through. Spring’s words suggest that it did, and I am so glad!
I want us to take the work of being together seriously. It’s a practice that is grounded in many things: interdependence, traditions, rituals, a desire to work across lines of difference. I think that’s all part of remembering, gathering, and nourishing.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: For several years now I have been researching and writing about agriculture in Texas state prisons. I’ve pretty much narrowed that down to trying to understand sugar production in the early 20th century.
What I am really interested in untangling in this project is the role sugar production played in stabilizing the state and catapulting a regional sugar powerhouse. It is historical in nature. But it also has a lot to teach us about how private-public partnerships shape institutions, yes; but also our daily lives through what we consume.
I’ve been calling that project the Carceral Life of Sugar. It might end up being called something else as I continue to refine it.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I don’t think so! Thank you for being interested in my writing.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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