A Global Culinary Program
Feast and Field is a global culinary program dedicated to exploring the origins, history, and cultural significance of key crops and ingredients, with a focus on African Atlantic foodways and the significant contributions of African culinary traditions to American cuisine.
By bringing together aspiring chefs from culinary schools around the world, Feast and Field fosters a deeper understanding of the roots of the food we eat, connects cultures, and celebrates the often untold stories that shape our food systems and culinary traditions across the African Atlantic world.What is Feast and Field?
Feast and Field is an immersive learning experience that uses food as a lens to explore history, agriculture, and culture. The program centers African Atlantic foodways, examining how ingredients, techniques, and traditions traveled between Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas through trade, migration, and survival.What does the program include?
Feast and Field is a 5–6 day program, offered twice a year (Spring and Fall), and includes:Hands-on cooking workshops led by chefs working within African Atlantic culinary traditionsFarm and field visits focused on the agricultural roots of essential ingredients such as corn, rice, okra, and yamsHistory and storytelling sessions tracing the movement of food across the African Atlantic worldGlobal culinary exchanges, highlighting how shared ingredients appear across different regions and culturesA culminating community dinner, where participants and mentors come together to share food and stories
Where will it take place?
The program rotates across locations, beginning on St. Helena Island in the United States for its inaugural class, with plans of expanding internationally. Each site will be intentionally selected for its deep historical and cultural significance within African Atlantic food history. The first session will begin in Spring 2026!Who is it for?
Feast and Field is designed for:Culinary students and emerging chefsFood educators and cultural practitionersCulinary professionals interested in history, heritage, and sustainabilityAnyone seeking a deeper understanding of food beyond technique and recipes
Why Feast and Field Matters:
Food carries memory, movement, and meaning. Feast and Field helps participants understand not only how to cook, but why certain foods exist, how they traveled, and what they represent. The program preserves African Atlantic culinary knowledge, honors agricultural traditions, and encourages historically grounded culinary practice.At its core:
Feast and Field is about:Honoring African Atlantic culinary legaciesConnecting food, land, and historyLearning through shared experience and communityUsing food as a bridge between cultures
Feast and Field is more than a program; it is an opportunity to learn, reflect, and engage with food in a deeper, more meaningful way.Chef Instructors
Michael Twitty
James Beard Award–winning author of The Cooking Gene and nationally recognized culinary historian, Michael W. Twitty traces African Atlantic foodways from West Africa to the American South through scholarship, genealogy, and live-fire cooking. A fellow of the Southern Foodways Alliance and former Revolutionary in Residence at Colonial Williamsburg, he offers students a rare opportunity to engage award-winning food history in practice.
Founder
Tonya Thomas
Co-founder of the acclaimed Ida B’s Table in Baltimore, Tonya Thomas brings nearly three decades of hospitality and culinary leadership rooted in cultural preservation and sustainability. Her work centers reclaiming and illuminating the history of Soul Food, connecting community, heritage, and contemporary culinary practice.
Founder
FounderDavid Thomas
Executive Chef and co-founder of Ida B’s Table, David Thomas is a Food Network Chopped Grand Champion and sustainability-driven culinary leader committed to reclaiming the narrative of African American cuisine. His work blends ancestral technique, local sourcing, and culinary mentorship, offering students hands-on training grounded in cultural and agricultural heritage.
Location: The Historic Penn Center
For more than one hundred fifty years, Penn Center National Historic Landmark District, located on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, has been at the epicenter of African American education, historic preservation, and social justice for tens of thousands of descendants of formerly enslaved West and Central Africans living in the Sea Islands, known as the Gullah Geechee people.
We are excited to partner with them as our host site for the program.
To learn more about the Penn Center, please visit: www.penncenter.com
Founded:
1862
Scholarships are available!
Scholarships will include student lodging at the Historic Penn Center on Saint Helena Island, SC, daily continental breakfast, local transportation to all scheduled program locations, Savannah (SAV) airport pickup and return, select group dinners, and instructor-led teaching support.