About This Episode

In light of recent events including the trial and conviction of Derek Chauvin, we bring you an important conversation with James Beard Award-winning chef JJ Johnson. Johnson describes the challenges of black business ownership and how to support black-owned businesses. “Don’t say you care about black lives if you can’t walk into a black-owned business and look on the shelves and give it the same amount of money that you give a white-owned business,” says Johnson. There continue to be systemic barriers, as well. “When I was applying for my PPP money, I got declined three times. There are a lot of black-owned businesses that just weren’t able to get PPP money to stay alive,” Johnson explains about the Payment Protection Program within the CARES Act that has provided support for small businesses during the pandemic.   Join us for a conversation with an award-winning chef using his talents and voice to build lasting change.

Resources and Mentions:

JJ Johnson

JJ Johnson

Chef // FIELDTRIP

JJ Johnson is a James Beard Award-winning chef and author best known for his barrier-breaking cuisine connecting the foodways of West Africa and Asia to the Americas. Johnson’s brand of creating cultural connections through food is a hallmark of his hospitality group, Ingrained Hospitality Concepts, LLC. The restaurant group opened FIELDTRIP, a quick-casual rice bowl shop located in Harlem that highlights rice traditions from around the world with globally-inspired flavors and techniques. He is a Forbes 30 Under 30, Eater Young Gun and has been featured on NBC TODAY, GMA and in Food and Wine and Esquire magazine. Johnson award-winning cookbook is called Between Harlem and Heaven: Afro-Asian-American Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights, and Every Day. He serves on the James Beard Impact Programs Advisory Committee and sits on the junior board of Food Bank for New York City.

FIELDTRIP

FIELDTRIP

https://www.fieldtripnyc.com/

FIELDTRIP is a community-based dining experience that celebrates culture through the shared experience of rice.

Chef JJ Johnson

https://www.chefjj.co/