HuffPost. February 2022.

Matthew Raiford is a chef, author and farmer on a mission to raise awareness of the life cycle of food, especially in the African-American community. As a sixth-generation Gullah Geechee in the coastal South, Raiford is working to pass on his ancestral and acquired knowledge of growing, cooking and preserving food, by hosting dinner discussions, supper clubs and creating teaching curriculums. In this Voices in Food story, Raiford talks about why Black chefs and farmers need to take ownership of their land and pride in conserving culinary agriculture.

In 1874, my great-great-great grandfather, Jupiter Gillard, was one of the first free men to purchase land in coastal Georgia. Over time and through marriage, the plot increased to 476 acres. We used the land for farming organic sweet potatoes, corn, sugarcane, watermelons and peas, and for raising chickens and hogs. We cooked whatever we grew on our family-run farm and sold the excess at farmers markets. My sister, Althea Raiford, and I are the sixth generation to be farming at Gillard Farms.

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