About Diaspora Food Stories

Diaspora Food Stories is the latest media project from The Global Food and Drink Initiative. This groundbreaking podcast will complement its sister media outlet, Cuisine Noir Magazine, with unscripted, authentic, entertaining, and inspiring conversations held with people of African descent in food, drink and travel around the world.

With a mission to connect, share and preserve the history and culture of the African Diaspora through food, drink and travel, the podcast will add on one new dimension…language. Enjoy Diaspora Food Stories as told in English as well as other languages spoken by Black people around the world; the first for any food podcasts.

Podcasts will be released every other Wednesday and available on this website as well as where you listen to all of your podcasts.  You’ll also be able to watch full episodes on YouTube.

You can follow The Global Food and Drink Initiative on Instagram and Facebook as well as Cuisine Noir Magazine on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok for guests and episode previews.

Meet Your Hosts

V. Sheree Williams

Sheree has been discovering and telling stories of food and drink as they related to the African Diaspora for more than 14 years as the publisher and editor of Cuisine Noir Magazine, the world’s first Black culinary publication to amplify these narratives. 

As the producer and one of the hosts of Diaspora Food Stories, she is expanding these conversations so that they can be heard and shared for generations to follow.

Dr. Janice da Silva

Janice is the administrator of DEV 17, the multi-professional global network for accelerating the Sustainable Development Goals at the International Advisory Board of Goodwill Ambassadors (AHIABGA), member of the UN Global Compact, USA and member of Global Peace Let’s Talk, England. She is also the founder of the ODOS (One Dress, One Smile) program that empowers people from informal settlements through fashion and training for knowledge management and personal development.

Listen and watch her interview in English and Portuguese with Ana Sofia Lopes, owner of Sofia’s Place in Lisbon, Portugal.

Madalena Pedro Miala

Madalena Pedro Miala is a sworn translator and interpreter who is fluent in Portuguese (her mother tongue), Dutch, English and French. She was born and raised in Belgium, by way of Angola. While growing up with her four siblings, she spent her formative and high school years majoring in Economics and Modern Languages, first in Bruges and then in Ghent. After graduating, she decided to dive deeper into her roots and chose to major in African Languages and Cultures at the Ghent University.

Listen and watch her episode in English and French with chef and restaurateur Pierre Thiam.