A Juneteenth Dinner Party That Celebrates the Recipes of Freda DeKnight and Edna Lewis

On this holiday, which celebrates the emancipation of American slaves, photographer Oriana Koren reimagined what the recipes of two great chefs would look like today.

Photographer Oriana Koren

June 19, 2018

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Los Angeles–based photographer Oriana Koren got an unexpected box in the mail. Inside, a friend had sent a copy of Freda DeKnight’s seminal 1948 cookbook, A Date with a Dish: A Cook Book of American Negro Recipes. Inspired by DeKnight’s story (read more about her here), Koren designed a menu for Juneteenth/Freedom Day—the holiday that celebrates the effective emancipation of American slaves, on a date more than two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and serves a reminder of how liberation and equity have historically been belated for black communities. She selected recipes from A Date with a Dish, as well as recipes from Edna Lewis’s In Pursuit of Flavor. Lewis, a black chef and the granddaughter of a former slave, championed the importance of black cuisine, but also received delayed recognition for her lifetime of work. Food stylist Jillian Knox added a cocktail, and a charcuterie platter based on her own family’s cooking, with nods to the antebellum south while glancing into the future. On the menu: Southern charcuterie, benne seed crackers, sorrel juleps, cheese straws, pork liver pâté, creole style red snapper, cow pea (black-eyed pea) salad, and blackberry cobbler. Many recipes in A Date with a Dish originated in the kitchens of descendants of slaves and domestic workers whom DeKnight met on her reporting travels for Ebony. Just as DeKnight told their stories, Koren hoped to carry on in her spirit, sharing hers. “For some years now I’ve been working towards using my lens to uplift the contributions of black women in the food industry, especially past ancestors whose work is in danger of being forgotten,” said Koren. “DeKnight thought it was important to document these recipes, and I thought it equally important to bring the recipes to life.”

Oriana Koren
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Country ham, frying on the stove
In A Date with a Dish, DeKnight introduces the ham chapter with a poignant reference to her father, who died when she was two years old. “My mother used to tell me many stories about my Dad’s love for the culinary art,” she writes. “When it came to cooking ham, he was really in a class by himself. [He would often say that] if he could find a job cooking only ham, he would do just that.”
Photography by Oriana Koren. Food Styling by Jillian Knox and Malina Syvoravong. Prop styling by Jillian Knox.
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Sorrel-Hibiscus Juleps
Stylist Jillian Knox came up with this take on a mint julep recipe to center around the flavor of sorrel and hibiscus. “You have traditional Caribbean flavors integrated with a cocktail that was typically enjoyed by those who ran plantations,” she said.

Photograph by Oriana Koren. Food Styling by Jillian Knox and Malina Syvoravong. Prop styling by Jillian Knox.
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Benne Seed Crackers
Benne seed (sesame seed) crackers from Edna Lewis’s In Pursuit of Flavor. Benne seeds, wrote Lewis, were brought to the Americas from Africa, named after the Benue state of Nigeria: “Slaves planted them at the end of crop rows and around their small cabins and used them in much of their cooking.” You can find the recipe online here.
Photography by Oriana Koren. Food Styling by Jillian Knox and Malina Syvoravong. Prop styling by Jillian Knox.
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Pickled Shrimp
Knox’s pickled shrimp were inspired by her father’s summer barbecue specialty. “Many of the these items are traditional in black families (not specifically as a charcuterie), but in this form you get to experience them all at once, sharing stories of how you remember making it or how your grandma would make it,” said Knox, “It’s the best way to get the party started—telling stories.”

Photograph by Oriana Koren. Food Styling by Jillian Knox and Malina Syvoravong. Prop styling by Jillian Knox.
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Country Ham and Peach Preserves
In one quick breakfast in A Date with a Dish, DeKnight fries slices of ham in butter and serves them with tomatoes and brown sugar. Here, Knox serves the crispy ham with peach preserves.
Photography by Oriana Koren. Food Styling by Jillian Knox and Malina Syvoravong. Prop styling by Jillian Knox.
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Pork Liver Pâté
A recipe from Edna Lewis’s In Pursuit of Flavor, which Knox made in a mold, using the rendered pork fat to make the jewel-like buttons on top. You can find the recipe online via Google Books here.

Photograph by Oriana Koren. Food Styling by Jillian Knox and Malina Syvoravong. Prop styling by Jillian Knox.
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Cheese Straws
Edna Lewis’s famous cheese straws. In In Pursuit of Flavor, Lewis writes: “Cheese straws are common throughout the South, served with cocktails, soups, sandwiches, and salads. I like to make mine very peppery and use a good extra-sharp cheese for flavor.” You can find the recipe online here.
Photograph by Oriana Koren. Food Styling by Jillian Knox and Malina Syvoravong. Prop styling by Jillian Knox.
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Charcuterie
“Your menus, whether for breakfast, lunch, bridge, or supper, should be in keeping with your personality and home,“ DeKnight writes cheerfully in A Date with a Dish, “Foods have feelings, and they like to be placed in the right places on the right menus.” Koren designed her Juneteenth menu around the same premise, dishes that felt they belonged together based on history, flavor, and sharing a festive mood.

Photograph by Oriana Koren. Food Styling by Jillian Knox and Malina Syvoravong. Prop styling by Jillian Knox.
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Cow Pea Salad
Also known as black-eyed peas, this cow pea salad is from Kwanzaa: An African American Celebration Of Culture And Cooking, a favorite cookbook of photographer Oriana Koren.
Photography by Oriana Koren. Food Styling by Jillian Knox and Malina Syvoravong. Prop styling by Jillian Knox.
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Creole-Style Red Snapper
Freda DeKnight’s Creole-style snapper is baked with a flavorful spice rub, stuffed with oysters and breadcrumbs, and finally topped with butter-cooked shrimp. You can find the recipe online here, page 190 of A Date with a Dish.

Photography by Oriana Koren. Food Styling by Jillian Knox and Malina Syvoravong. Prop styling by Jillian Knox.
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Creole-Style Red Snapper
The centerpiece of the party, a baked snapper, “Creole-style”, from DeKnight’s travels to New Orleans. Koren “wanted to honor DeKnight’s tenacious spirit by creating images of the recipes she so lovingly collected from various black domestic workers and cooks, caterers, and other black folks working in and around the food industry.”
Photograph by Oriana Koren. Food Styling by Jillian Knox and Malina Syvoravong. Prop styling by Jillian Knox.
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Blackberry Cobbler
“Deep dish cobblers are country favorites,” writes DeKnight in A Date with a Dish, “When all else in desserts fail, cobbler takes a bow. When sugar was scarce and pennies low, maple syrup and even molasses made delightful eating, added to apples which were topped with a crunchy, flaky crust. One of the nicest crusts I’ve had the pleasure of eating was made with black walnuts.” You can find her recipe here, page 380 of A Date with a Dish.