Meet the chef behind Oakland's Black Food & Wine Experience
By Steph Rodriguez June 10, 2022
It wasn’t so long ago that Oakland-born chef Aminah Robinson-Briscoe, better known as Chef Mimi, had a vision for an event that would not only celebrate Black culture, food and entertainment, but would also include networking opportunities for members of Black and Indigenous communities to go into business for themselves.
Her successful catering company has allowed her to cook meals for the likes of Bay Area tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Slack, to name a few, and she decided to use her ongoing momentum to create the Black Food & Wine Experience.
This multi-day event first launched in 2016 and has since grown to include a summit that features industry experts such as Ingrid Best, known for heading Diddy’s Ciroc vodka campaign, plus a range of food purveyors and wine and spirit makers, who span the African diaspora. Attendees of this year’s event, scheduled for June 11 through June 19, will be able to listen to panel discussions, sample bites and sips from a variety of local Black-led companies, and most of all, celebrate Black culture.
“Ingrid Best just created her own wine, and she’ll be talking about the process of how to become a winemaker,” Robinson-Briscoe said. “She’s a brand ambassador for her own brand, but she’s also worked for tons of spirit and wine brands and has a really unique position in marketing.”
This year, the Black Food & Wine Experience also honors Juneteenth, a federal holiday that commemorates the end of chattel slavery in the U.S., and the reemergence of Black Wall Street, focusing on post-pandemic strategies for hospitality professionals.
“We want people to understand that this event is really about building community. We can't have these conversations without having everybody buy in and be a part of it,” Robinson-Briscoe told SFGATE. “We want to make sure that people understand that this event is for you. It's for everyone. And it's all about celebrating Black culture.”
New experiences this year include the Black Food & Beverage Summit, hosting Planet FWD founder and CEO Julia Collins, who is also the founder of Moonshot crackers; Sheila Hackbarth of Moet Hennessy USA; Jana Pastena of Oakland’s Chop Bar and Calavera restaurants, and more.
There’s also the Black & Asian Solidarity Dinner, featuring "Top Chef" contestants and well-known Bay Area chefs Nelson German and Tu David Phu, which kicks off the festivities starting with a seven-course meal on Saturday, June 11. While tickets for this weekend’s solidarity event are sold out, there are plenty of opportunities to soak up industry secrets and delicious food during the Food & Beverage Industry Summit on June 16, and the Grand Tasting on June 18.
“This is the first year that we've had four different events, as well as hosting our Instagram Live [streams],” Robinson-Briscoe said. “There'll be people telling their stories around some of the pitfalls, pain points and successes that they've had in the industry, as well as networking opportunities for people to meet and greet with each other.”
Additional resources such as ESO Ventures and the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce will also be present. It’s an all-encompassing affair that looks at the food industry as a whole, from chefs who own their own restaurants to wine distributors and even food bloggers who found their niche using social media.
In February 2020, Robinson-Briscoe said the event saw 1,000 attendees. This year, she expects up to 500 guests, keeping safe distances in mind for all involved. One of those past attendees is Alicia Kidd, founder of Wine Noire, a wine distributor representing Black- and women-owned companies. She has plans to open her retail shop, CoCo Noir Wine Shop & Bar, this summer in downtown Oakland.
In 2018, Kidd attended her first Black Food & Wine Experience, and began her own entrepreneurial journey shortly after.
June 10, 2022
Steph Rodriguez is the former Food Editor for SFGATE. Her food writing has been recognized by the California News Publishers Association as well as the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California.