Kwanzaa Culinarians

Recipes and Food Stories from the African Diaspora

Black Culinary History Year in Review 2015

By Chef Therese Nelson of Black Culinary History. When I thought about what I wanted to contribute to this year’s Kwanzaa Culinarians collection I knew immediately that I wanted to talk … Continue reading →

December 28, 2015
Table Setting

Kwanzaa: Using Food and Heritage to Make Meaning

Those of us who celebrate Kwanzaa face a lot of ribbing, good natured and otherwise, often questioning the authenticity and meaning of the holiday. As they say in Nigeria, “Let … Continue reading →

December 8, 2012 · 2 Comments

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Learn more about Kwanzaa

The word "Kwanzaa" comes from the phrase, "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first-fruits." Kwanzaa's extra "a" evolved as a result of a particular history of the Organization Us. It was clone as an expression of African values in order to inspire the creativity of our children. In the early days of Us, there were seven children who each wanted to represent a letter of Kwanzaa. Since kwanza (first) has only six letters, we added an extra "a" to make it seven, thus creating "Kwanzaa." To learn more about Kwanzaa, visit the Official Kwanzaa Website.