Geechee Girl Cafe

07/08/2024

On Saturday, August 10th, at 11:00, Valerie is doing her second workshop of the summer at Wyck Historic House, Garden, and Farm. This time the theme is summer fruit. Val is making blueberry dumplings (dessert with no oven!), watermelon agua fresca (one of the original "red drinks"), and maybe a 3rd dish. It's free to attend, but you do need to register in advance. You can register here: https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/wyckevents/farm-to-table-summer-fruit-recipes
Here's an interview Valerie did many years ago on NPR about blueberry dumplings.
https://www.npr.org/2013/06/27/195633254/blueberry-dumplings-the-star-of-lasting-summer-memories

22/07/2024

On Thursday 7/25/24 at 5:00 ET, Val is doing an online panel with Free Library of Philadelphia and culinary historian Donna Battle Pierce on foodways of the Great Migration. Join us for food memories and a little bit of controversy--the program is called "Sugar Don't Go on Grits". It's free and from the comfort of your home, but you do have to sign up in advance.

How Black is sweet cornbread? Do WE put marshmallows on sweet potato casserole? Sugar Dont Go On Grits: An Archival Look at The Great Migrations Effect on How We Eat will be a conversational space dedicated to retracing the divergent pathways of the African American culinary tradition. Leaning on ar...

14/06/2024

Calling all Philly chefs!! On Friday June 28th, The People's Kitchen Philly is partnering with Neighborhood Gardens Trust and PHS : Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to hold a Unity Dinner event to save Tioga-Hope Park and Garden, a historic Black gardening space. The gardeners (some of the original gardeners are pictured here) specifically asked for Black chefs so I’ll ask too. All chefs welcome, though!! It’s an early evening event. Are you a chef without a kitchen? The People’s Kitchen can provide prep space. Please DM me if you can help. The Unity Dinner partners will reimburse for ingredients

30/05/2024

So ready for your jam? My friend April McGreger, master preserver is holding a private class on Sunday, June 2nd. Only 2 slots left!! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/small-batch-berry-jams-and-preserves-tickets-900362898667?aff=oddtdtcreator

09/05/2024

The Unseen Role of Prisons in Our Food System

Our legal system is complicated, with roots in racial capitalism that drive mass incarceration; there's also a mix of incentives within the prison network that promote various versions of convict leasing, agricultural labor programs, and coercive labor practices. And while the definitive numbers on....

05/05/2024

Valerie, who is on the board of The People's Kitchen Philly is joining April McGreger to hold a Mother's Day bake Sale. Show the moms in your life some Motherly Love! Order here: https://donorbox.org/events/589937
We are selling April's flaky, buttery biscuits, plus some her her fantastic preserves. Val is making calas--sweet rice beignets. And some sorrel to wash it all down with. Advance ordering only. Pick up times: Saturday May 11th evening at the People's Kitchen in South Phila, PLUS a Mt Airy pickup; Sun morning May 12th at the People's Kitchen.

30/03/2024

Princeton Alumni Weekly asked Valerie to write a travel article about Philadelphia. She wrote about Northwest Philadelphia, namely: Material Culture; Uncle Bobbie's Coffee & Books; Wyck Historic House, Garden, and Farm; Young American Hard Cider & Tasting Room; Morris Arboretum.

I’ve lived in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood for more than 40 years, so I know the area. I also know food.

29/10/2023

The Flavor Spot makes jerk chicken fried rice. They call it a Jamaican twist on an Asian tradition.

I decided to try it last night; and man when I tell you it was absolutely delicious: all the loose fluffy moistness of Asian fried rice accompanied by deep savory Jamaican flavors. A tribute to both Jamaican and Asian foodways.

I’m not Asaian; and I’m not Jamaican either but I am a Geechee (with a Jamaican son) and if there’s one thing we know it’s rice.



Lj Erwin

21/07/2023

Lorenzo Dow Turner (1890 –1972)

Was an academic and linguist who conducted seminal research on the Gullah language of coastal South Carolina and Georgia. He earned a master's degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. from the Univ. of Chicago. He taught at Howard Univ. (1917-1928) and Fisk Univ. (1929 – 1946) and traveled West Africa, identifying over 300 (Mende, Vai, Fulani) Gullah loanwords and 4,000 personal names. He published his findings in his book “Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect (1949).
❤️ Thank you all for your tremendous support on our post. We invite you to visit our store and show your Black Pride.
https://www.doxprints.com/stores/mug

18/04/2023

Hi Fish Lovers: Valerie is contributing to a research paper on Black Philadelphians and eating fish. If you're willing to be interviewed, please DM us, or DM Valerie Erwin's personal page [which is easier to access, really. We don't know what's up with the Facebook business suite] Please send your phone number. We'll get back to anyone who responds. Thanks (Val posted about this on her personal page too, so sorry if you've read it before.)

25/03/2023

Val and her friend April McGreger are holding a Fish Fry Fundraiser for The People's Kitchen Philly. Please buy a plate and make a donation. There's also some news about Val and Leigh.

23/03/2023

Valerie's good friends Cybille and Omar and their store Honeysuckle Projects were featured in Eater. Val met Omar and later Cybille through their shared interest in food and social justice. Good reason to keep doing the work: a chance to meet talented, dedicated, YOUNG chefs!

The couple’s grocery and cafe provides their neighborhood with delicious, intentional food. So why cook at home anymore, really?

23/01/2023

For all of you would-be culinary entrepreneurs out there: Temple University's Small Business Development Center is offering a commissary scholarship program.

The commissary scholar program is a partnership between Temple SBDC and Culinary Collective, and will benefit Philly-area culinary businesses.

13/01/2023

Police said Shirley Liggons, 78, was last seen Friday at her home on the 4000 block of Poplar Street.

12/01/2023

That first photo is of Valerie with a student in what was then called "My Daughter's Kitchen". Maureen Fitzgerald, former food editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer, founded this culinary training program for 5th graders. It's still going strong and now called "My Family Kitchen". Maureen is looking for volunteers to teach--with a partner--a group of 5 or 6 fifth graders. 8 wk program. Starts week of February 20th. DM us your email and phone # if you're interested and we will forward your info to Maureen. Other photos of impossibly cute kids who have participated.

07/11/2022

Credit: Twitter/

03/11/2022

If you missed Val at Free Library Author Events, you can listen to her interview Kardea Brown here:

In conversation with Valerie Erwin Charleston, South Carolina–based Kardea Brown hosts the Food Network’s Delicious Miss Brown and OWN’s The Great Soul Food Cookoff. She also is the creator of the pop-up New Gullah Supper Club, where her cuisine pays homage to her grandmother’s cooking and h...

29/10/2022

Hey everyone, Valerie Erwin is interviewing Kardea Brown for Free Library Author Events on Tuesday November 1. Link for tix in Free Library Author Events profile. See what happens when two Geechee Girls talk

Get your tickets for our Tuesday 11/1 event with Kardea Brown and her new paean to Low Country cuisine "The Way Home: A Celebration of Sea Islands Food and Family with over 100 Recipes", in conversation with Valerie Erwin. Don't miss this one, Philly Phoodies! https://bit.ly/3FswVbV

27/09/2022

25/09/2022

People’s Kitchen Philly was launched in March 2020 as a response to the s… Kenny Chiu needs your support for Prevent the Sale of the People's Kitchen Gardens

24/08/2022

Val and Leigh are doing a dinner on October 1st Plowshare Farms. Read all about it. And about what else Val is doing.