Buxton Books is proud to host Nicole A. Taylor in conversation with KJ Kearney for Nicole’s cookbook Watermelon & Red Birds. This is a ticketed, in-store event! Find tickets here. *Note: This event is FREE with Student ID, but we ask that you still register at the ticket link!
Buxton Books is honored to host KJ Kearney, of Black Food Fridays, for the new series: Black Food Conversations with KJ Kearney!
For the opening event, KJ will be joined in the bookstore by Nicole A. Taylor- author of Watermelon and Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations - for a conversation on the role of food in African-American celebration.
Doors for this event will open at 5:00 pm with the talk to begin at 5:30 pm. Get tickets here! *Note: This event is FREE with Student ID, but we ask that you still register at the ticket link!
About Nicole A. Taylor:
Nicole A. Taylor is a James Beard Award–nominated food writer, master home cook, and producer. She has written for the New York Times, Bon Appétit, and Food & Wine. Nicole is the author of The Up South Cookbook and The Last O.G. Cookbook. She is the executive producer of If We So Choose, a short documentary about the desegregation of an iconic southern fast food joint. Nicole is the cofounder of The Maroon, a marketplace and retreat house focused on radical rest for Black creatives. She lives in New York City and Athens, Georgia, with her husband and son.
About Watermelon & Red Birds:
On June 19, 1865, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and issued General Order Number 3, informing the people of Texas that all enslaved people were now free. A year later, in 1866, Black Texans congregated with music, dance, and BBQs—Juneteenth celebrations.
All-day cook-outs with artful salads, bounteous dessert spreads, and raised glasses of “red drink” are essential to Juneteenth gatherings. In Watermelon and Red Birds, Nicole puts jubilation on the main stage. As a master storyteller and cook, she bridges the traditional African-American table and 21st-century flavors in stories and recipes. Nicole synthesizes all the places we’ve been, all the people we have come from, all the people we have become, and all the culinary ideas we have embraced.
Watermelon and Red Birds contains over 75 recipes, including drinks like Afro Egg Cream and Marigold Gin Sour, dishes like Beef Ribs with Fermented Harissa Sauce, Peach Jam and Molasses Glazed Chicken Thighs, Southern-ish Potato Salad and Cantaloupe and Feta Salad, and desserts like Roasted Nectarine Sundae, and Radish and Ginger Pound Cake. Taylor also provides a resource to guide readers to BIPOC-owned hot sauces, jams, spice, and waffle mixes companies and lists fun gadgets to make your Juneteenth special. These recipes and essays will inspire parties to salute one of the most important American holidays, and moments to savor joy all year round.
About KJ Kearney:
KJ Kearney is the founder of Black Food Fridays. Found primarily on Instagram and TikTok, Black Food Fridays is a call-to-action, encouraging all to be intentional with their support of Black owned food/beverage businesses by purchasing from them each and every Friday.
KJ's work in the food space includes hosting Soul Food tours for both the Charleston Wine and Food Festival and the Charleston Visitors Bureau, participating in a virtual discussion of cuisine among the African Diaspora for Amazon's Black Employee Network, writing the proclamation for "Red Rice Day" adopted by the City of Charleston, crafting social media content for the Pepsi "Dig-In" Initiative, as well as an appearance on the hit Food Network show, "Delicious Ms. Brown".
Black Food Fridays has been featured and mentioned in a wide range of publications including TodayShow.com, Mic.com, Gastro Obscura, Twisted (UK), Bet.com, the Post & Courier, The New York Times, and Good Morning America.