Rachel Finn

  

I am a freelance food writer, editor, and independent researcher with a specialization in African Diaspora foodways, though my interest in and knowledge of food cultures in quite broad. I am also the founder and director of a growing nonprofit called Roots Cuisine dedicated to promoting the foodways of African Diaspora. I have recently begun interviewing artisans and researching handicraft traditions of the African Diaspora.

I have had articles in publications including Gastronomica, the Seattle Weekly, the Chicago Sun-Times, and The Root, and I have written encyclopedia articles on the foodways of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and The Dominican Republic and Dominican-Americans.

For the last two years I have split my time between the United States and Jamaica, researching, writing, and learning about food and ingredients in both places while attempting to decide where and how to create a base for myself in one place or the other and learning more than I ever thought possible about food, culture, heritage, and history. I am leaning heavily toward Jamaica, and planning to travel more throughout the Caribbean to further explore foodways in the Americas and the Caribbean.

After three years of promoting the mission of Roots Cuisine through research, writing, and global speaking engagements on afro-foodways, I am beginning to plan for the ultimate goal of Roots Cuisine, which is a library cultural center accessible through digital and physical spaces. I am contemplating library school.