Free Events Sept. 5 and 12 at Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History Feature Cooking Demonstrations, Live Music and Conversation
As part of its semiquincentennial programming, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival launched “Rhythms, Roots, Recipes: Community Stories of Food and Music” in August, a five-part series that brings together cooking demonstrations, live music and storytelling to explore traditions that animate families and communities across the United States.
The series opened with a program in August highlighting Mexican American culinary and musical traditions centered on the cultural significance of chiles verdes. The second and third installments will take place Saturday, Sept. 5, and Saturday, Sept. 12, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on the Wallace H. Coulter Plaza at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The events are free and open to the public.
From the Armenian American Wedding Table
“May You Grow Old on One Pillow: Food, Music, and the Armenian American Wedding Table” Saturday, Sept. 5, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., will look at the ways in which food and music bring Armenian families and communities together through celebration.
The event will feature father-and-son chefs Boris and Berj Ghazarian of Bark Barbecue Cafe in Stevensville, Maryland, in conversation with acclaimed Armenian a cappella trio Zulal. Journalist Liana Aghajanian will moderate the discussion and focus on the traditions, memories and cultural practices that surround Armenian American wedding celebrations.
Visitors will experience an afternoon of Armenian culture as found in one of its most cherished celebrations: the wedding feast. As the Ghazarians showcase cooking demonstrations of ghapama, a stuffed pumpkin often served on special occasions, and manti, small meat-filled dumplings accompanied by yogurt or tomato-sumac sauce, Zulal will share folk songs of love, family and community, highlighting the important role music plays in marking life’s milestones.
The Enduring Power of African American Sunday Suppers
On Saturday, Sept. 12, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., visitors can join a conversation about the enduring power of Sunday suppers in African American homes across the United States. For many, the meal remains an important moment to reconnect with family, honor ancestral ties and share recipes reflecting history, faith and community.
In this cooking demonstration, Birmingham, Alabama-based chef and artist Roscoe Hall and author and food historian Adrian Miller will explore why the Sunday supper continues to be a cornerstone of family and cultural life. As Hall prepares brown butter crab rice and collard greens, Arkansas-based S. Juain Young and Artists United will perform songs from the African American church that have nourished hearts, souls and movements.