Episode 1: Nacala Ayele

The Deep End Friends Podcast

Nacala Ayele is the creator and owner of “FLY! Culinary Tours” where she has traveled to Ghana, Kenya, Guatemala, Jamaica, Trinidad, and The Bahamas to gather recipes, meet culinary historians, and gather stories of Black people of the African diaspora through food. She is enamored with the richness of Black foodways; from the creativity of African pre-colonial dishes enjoyed and dishes created in slavery, to the ingenuity used to craft meals using cultural food products brought from Europe. The history of Black folks can be found in the cultural, social, and economic practices relating to the production and consumption of food. She sees how the African diaspora combined indigenous foods from the lands where Africans departed and where they arrived while crossing and surviving the middle passage. Her work is a collection of these food ways woven into interactive experiences. She has catered Y-WE catering lunches to teach youth about history and food preparation; collaborated with Afrodisiac Erotic Poetry with the “Agabayun ( or miracle) Berry Experience;” helped test recipes for Festal 20th Anniversary Commemorative Cookbook; assisted with food-pop-up fundraisers for Music Never Sleeps