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RECIPE FOR CHANGE
Aminah “Chef Mimi” Robinson-Briscoe is the founder of the Black Food & Wine Experience. She is passionate about bringing Black culture and food together for the most amazing culinary experiences. PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS
Chef Aminah “Mimi” Robinson-Briscoe
By April Neale
Despite growing up a vegetarian, Aminah “Chef Mimi” Robinson-Briscoe, a pioneer in the culinary world, is killing it. Chef Mimi has been challenging the status quo for as long as she can remember. As a Black vegetarian, she says she encountered assumptions around race and food from her peers. “I wrote this article called ‘Black Girls Don’t Eat Avocados.’ It was a snapshot of my childhood history mixed with what’s happening in the Black community regarding access to healthy foods. I brought this ugly-looking avocado, sprouts on wheat bread sandwich to school, and people would comment. ‘Oh, you’re eating like white people.’ I needed to understand why certain foods were thought to be reserved for particular races. I grew up with so many different people. We didn’t think that way in my household.”
Chef Mimi is a California Culinary Arts Academy graduate, raised in Berkeley and influenced by “Every food that you can think about,” Chef Mimi challenged elitist chefs who believed that the only fine cuisine was French. Her business savvy led to her showcasing African diaspora talent in her culinary events held on the West Coast. As a board member of the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce and Diablo Valley College’s culinary and wine program, she advocates for minority-owned businesses like Dennis and Alaya White’s Hella Wines and so many more in the food industry, emphasizing the makers and growers in California and across the Western states.
“We are between Silicon Valley and Napa Valley, where the San Francisco food scene and this [agricultural] bounty makes for a culinary destination. Many BIPOC chefs and winemakers have been overlooked, including women. We’re working with the James Beard Foundation to shine a light on chefs and winemakers on the West Coast because the New York area and the South seem to get more press. We want to show off our culinary perspectives as well,” said Chef Mimi. “I’m in love with the Wachira brand, owned by a Kenyan woman, Dr. Chris (Christine) Wachira, who has an amazing tasting room in Alameda, California. Wachira is also a distributor of other Black-owned and crafted wines.”
Chef Mimi’s goals are to create a more inclusive industry that showcases chefs and winemakers that have historically been overlooked. In 2016, she created the Black Food & Wine Experience, which offers chefs and restaurateurs from underrepresented communities to showcase their culinary skills.
Born from Chef Mimi’s “Bringing It To The Table” YouTube series, the Bay Area event, like the series, was self-funded. “They were passion projects. I was shopping this [series] in 2006, but the networks weren’t looking for Black chefs cooking anything besides Soul Food. And so I put this out on my own, which led me to say, ‘How can I create an event space celebrating Black chefs, winemakers, and allies, to have discussions about what we care about?,’” said Chef Mimi.
Last year, the event held a Black and Asian solidarity dinner with ‘Top Chef’ alumni Chef Nelson German and Chef Tu David Phu, who Chef Mimi said created an exceptional seven-course meal with traditional Black and Asian ingredients. She called it a “night of learning,” which is a value Chef Mimi continues to uphold.
“I’ve connected with humans by sharing dinner, a Shabbat or Ramadan feast, and spending Hanukkah, Christmas, or even Juneteenth with people from different cultures—it allowed me to learn a lot about people and their experiences through food,” she said.
