LA's 16th Annual Taste of Soul Family Festival holds first Drive-Thru Celebration
The Taste of Soul festival is an annual celebration, held every third Saturday in October on Crenshaw Blvd., showcasing a taste of all things "soulful," from local and international cuisine, to delicious quick-eats that reflect a Black cultural experience, fused with diverse cultures and traditions.
Illustration by Naomi Ruiz | The Corsair
The annual "Taste of Soul" festival happened on Saturday, October 16. It has been running for 16 years since 2005. This event took place on Crenshaw boulevard and 39th street, and was chock full of food, soul, and fervor for the black community of Los Angeles.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's event was drive-thru only. Even with this caveat, the event went on and many people came to get their food and also groceries thanks to a free grocery drive for less fortunate people.
The festival was created in 2005 by Danny J. Bakewell, Sr., CEO of Bakewell Media and Executive Publisher of the LA Sentinel and LA Watts Times Newspapers.
Taste of Soul showcases the cuisine of Black culture, from Los Angeles, to Africa, to the Caribbean and beyond. Food in the Black community is a treasured aspect, as Black Americans cook recipes that are considered traditions in their families and are passed down for generations. Black Americans shaped American cuisine today. According to the Smithsonian, enslaved people from Africa used what was considered ‘’scraps’’ of food given haphazardly by slave owners to survive. African women were forced to be chefs for white families. Living in these dire conditions, they were able to tap into their roots to cook masterfully delicious dishes as they did in their motherlands that became the prime meals of Southern cuisine.
The event is reported who reported?? to have an annual attendance of around 350,000+ people with approximately 300 food and merchandising vendors according to the Taste of Soul website. There is no fee to enter.
The festival is partnered by the City of Los Angeles, Smooth Jazz radio station 94.7 The Wave, and Radio Free 102.3 KJLH. This year, the benefiting partner organizations that aided the event are Mothers in Action and Brotherhood Crusade.
The festival is located in the Crenshaw District of South Los Angeles. The population of the Crenshaw neighborhood is predominantly African American and considered the cornerstone of the African American community in Los Angeles, encompasses the entire Black diaspora, and harbors Black businesses and restaurants. The site of the festival is positioned on Crenshaw boulevard, a major north-south thoroughfare situated around several neighborhoods in the west-central part of Los Angeles across a 23-mile route, according to Wikipedia.org.
Last year, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic as it was going very strongly in October 2020, Bakewell Sr. made the decision to hold the event virtually online instead of in person. This decision, while not having people in attendance, was still full of culture due to the amount of musical and influential speakers and performers they had. Some of these performers included Doug E. Fresh, En Vogue, and Montell Jordan.
Government officials in the state also appeared to support the community. The Taste of Soul website lists the chairs of the event Mayor Eric Garcetti, Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, and more. More information about the festival can be viewed at the following link: tasteofsoul.org