National Soul Food Month Founder Charla L. Draper
Photo credit: Charla L. Draper
Charla is the former food editor of Ebony magazine and the founder of National Soul Food Month, a holiday created to celebrate the heritage and history of foods and foodways of African Americans and peoples from the African diaspora.
“You can’t have soul food without good cornbread,” is what Charla says before naming greens and fried chicken among the staples that make up an authentic soul food meal.
The Chicago native has known about good food all her life coming from a family of cooks who set the bar high. She graduated from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, with a degree in home economics and began her career in food.
As subscriber to the iconic Ebony magazine, she approached the publication about enhancing their food section and after interviewing, got a call and the offer to be the food editor one year later. “One of the things that was important was to strengthen the food pages, make them more appetizing and a section that would really resonate with the Ebony reader.” She would be there first food editor to work in the iconic Ebony Test Kitchen that has now secured a home a the National Museum of African American History and Culture in D.C.
After her stint at Ebony, she took on the role as the food editor of Southern Living in Alabama before moving back to her home town of Chicago.
LISTEN: Chef O’Shay Lolley
National Soul Food Month Prepared with All the Helpings
Charla eventually founded It’s Food Biz, a culinary consultancy business that providing marketing services for food and food related products. She founded National Soul Food Month in June 2001 with each year hosting chefs, guests speakers and more. “As I did work on that [a projects called Grits and Greens), I realized, ‘Soul food needs some focus of its own.”
Now in its 23rd year, this year’s celebration kicked off on June 5 with Bronzeville chef Cliff Rome with other guests to include food journalist Donna Pierce.
Upcoming projects include collaboration on the May 2025 release, “Soul Food for Dummies,” which will provide the basics for those looking to perfect their soul food cooking schools.
Follow Charla and her work on Facebook and Instagram.
