May 16, 2025
On February 18, 2025, in honor of Black History Month, Ch(ART)wells, in partnership with the Organization of Black Students (OBS), the African and Caribbean Student Association (ACSA), the Black Graduate Coalition (BGC), and UChicago Dining, hosted an immersive culinary experience at the Logan Center for the Arts.
This year's theme, "Rooted in Resilience," highlighted the contributions of Black farmers while exploring the intersection of food, culture, and art. The event featured a speaker panel, tastings, and artistic showcases, emphasizing the importance of Black culture within agriculture and its impact on food justice.
Sarafina Handy, the Senior Marketing Manager for Ch(ART)wells Higher Education at the University of Chicago and one of the event organizers, explained that the inspiration for the theme came from noticing the decline of Black farm ownership since the early twentieth century. “Looking at the number of Black farmers in the 1920s compared to today, there are drastically fewer Black farmers and less Black land ownership now. When considering the advancement of Black people and Black culture, we can generally say we’re in a better place in 2025 than in 1925. However, when you think about success in America, you often think of land ownership.”
Student groups played a crucial role in the success of the event. As Sarafina noted, “Our goal is for the student perspectives to be the event. Truthfully, I will say this year has been the most successful in getting the student voices involved.”
One of those students, Alyssa King, President of BGC, helped secure panelists, which included urban farmer and food justice advocate Dakarai Howard, CEO of Urban Growers Collective Erika Allen, and Senior Director of the Cargill’s Salt division Dominique Harris.
One key topic the panelists emphasized was the influence we can have as consumers. "Understanding that there are small things we can all do in our individual lives to help push the same agenda is important,” says Alyssa. “One of the panelists encouraged every attendee to shop local, shop at Black-owned businesses, and support local farmers. That is one small step we can take. We need to be intentional with our dollars. We can have an impact on the economy by choosing where we spend our money. The key message, I hope, is the power of unity to make change."
The event itself stayed true to the “shop local” message, featuring only Chicago-based, Black-owned vendors. ETC.’s Chef Lamar Moore crafted the menu, while Funkytown Brewery and Love Cork Screw stocked the bar. Malaz Nour of ACSA, who helped procure some of the event’s artists, hopes that the vendors and panelists demonstrated to students the breadth of ways that one can meaningfully impact their community.
“A lot of students that come here want to be a lawyer, politician, or go into tech and finance, fields that they see changing the world in very large abstract ways,” explains Malaz. “In reality, there are many avenues for making a difference. It's crucial for students to see where change can happen. The work that these panelists do is so important; they are making a meaningful difference because food insecurity is such a widespread issue in urban areas, especially Chicago.”
Learn more about Ch(ART)wells here and follow UChicago Dining on Instagram for information on their upcoming events.