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Klancy Miller’s Honoring Black, Culinary Women ‘For the Culture’
She wanted a magazine to honor us in the food and wine industries, so she created it
Klancy Miller is doing it for the culture. Literally. Throughout the course of her career as a trained pastry chef, cookbook author, and food writer, Miller noticed that the stories of Black women in the food, wine, and hospitality industries were generally untold. Instead of hoping for increased representation in mainstream media publications, Miller took Toni Morrison’s advice to heart: “If there is a book you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
However, Miller wanted to share the stories of Black women and femmes in a print magazine first. For the Culture, which tells incredible stories throughout the diaspora, debuted last month. It is the first magazine of its kind in the food and beverage industries in which the writing, photography, and illustrations are all created by Black women. In less than one month, For the Culture has already sold more than 50% of its inventory.
In a recent talk with ZORA, Miller discussed the inaugural issue of For the Culture and her commitment to documenting Black women and femmes in the food and beverage industries.
ZORA: Is For the Culture a catalyst for changing the conversation about the importance of Black womens’ contributions to food and beverage?
Klancy Miller: I absolutely hope that the magazine is a strong catalyst for improving representation of Black women in food, wine, and hospitality. Black people’s stories are certainly undertold. And specifically, Black women deserve some shine. There are a lot of people doing really wonderful work — and I hope that For the Culture will lead to more storytelling in this space. In terms of curriculum, I do think it’s appropriate for culinary schools, especially in the U.S., to have curricula that reflect the influences of Black people on cuisine.
In a 2020 interview with Food and Wine, you shared a vision for the magazine growing into a larger media platform and possibly even a podcast? Do you still have this vision?
Well, that interview was before I experienced pandemic fatigue. I definitely would love to…
