Local Food and Culture Luminaries Launch Nonprofit, BIPOC Foodways Alliance
Tuesday, February 21, 2023 at 4:46AM
Chef / Writer Mecca Bos and Chef Sean Sherman recently founded BIPOC Foodways Alliance with a mission to document and share underrepresented food stories.
Launch event / fundraiser slated for Feb 28 at Glass House
Mecca Bos has been a food writer and chef for the past 25 years, working extensively around Black Foodways specifically, but also with BIPOC communities in the Twin Cities and beyond. Her partner, Sean Sherman, is the co-owner of award-winning restaurant Owamni, and nonprofit North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS). Together they have launched BIPOC Foodways Alliance, with a diverse group of board members who are hosting a ticketed launch event and fundraiser on February 28th.
While everyone has a food story, not everyone has a restaurant. The group’s main focus will be convening small events built around a community member and their story. The series is called the BIPOC Foodways Alliance Table (BFAT). The Table will provide a platform for those stories, intentionally inviting a diverse group of guests to have a seat at the table, to promote cross-cultural understanding and sharing through the universally spoken language of food. The organization intends to share stories across the Table itself, but also with the broader community using multiple forms of media: print, video, audio, and beyond. The Tables serve as both the core program of the organization and as a place to preserve, uplift, and protect the stories of BIPOC communities.
With the generous pro bono support of law firm Faegre Drinker, the organization is slated to reach 501c3 status by the end of 2023, and the fundraiser seeks to keep the project alive and well until that time.
The launch party will take place Tuesday, February 28 at Glass House, 145 Holden Street N, from 6pm to 10pm. It will feature entertainment by Cornbread Harris, DJ Tricky Miki, food by Sean Sherman, plus a presentation by Mecca Bos and members of the board, including Chef Yia Vang. A cash bar will feature BIPOC-created cocktails.
Sliding scale tickets are available via Eventbrite.
