Cooks, Chefs and Culinary Artists Free
Cooks, Chefs and Culinary Artists
What enslaved cook served as chief cook on George Washington’s plantation at Mt. Vernon?
1. Hercules
2. Abraham
3. Spartacus
4. Aesop
Hercules
Hercules also known as "Herculas" or "Uncle Harkless" or "Hercules Posey" was the head cook at the mansion, cooking for the Washington family and their guests in the 1780s and 90s. Hercules escaped to freedom from Mount Vernon in 1797, and later was legally freed under the terms of Washington's will.
Who was the first known published Black chef in the U.S.?
1. Joe Toney
2. Spartacus Ramsey
3. Rufus Estes
4. Joe Randall
Rufus Estes
Rufus Estes, was born enslaved in 1857 and later worked his way up from a Pullman Private Car attendant to a job preparing meals for wealthy whites in the steel industry. His "Good Things to Eat" was the first cookbook by an African-American.
What ½ Native American and ½ Black chef is alleged to have created the potato chip?
1. Herman Petty
2. George Crum
3. Malinda Russell
4. Cervantes Crum
George Crum
Story has it that George Crum invented the potato chip in the late 1800s as retaliation when wealthy steamship magnate, Cornelius Vanderbilt, criticized his thicker fried potatoes. Surprisingly, Vanderbilt loved the ultra-thinly fried chips and the rest is history.
What is the oldest known cookbook written by an African American woman?
1. The Domestic Cook Book
2. Bigmama’s Old Black Pot
3. Recipes for House Slaves
4. Negro Plantation Cookbook
The Domestic Cook Book
In 1866 Malinda Russell wrote the Domestic Cook Book which stands out as the oldest cookbook written by an African American woman. Culinary historian Jan Langone rediscovered it in 2000.
Which world famous chef has opened four restaurants in different cities, in 2010 was named winner of the Top Chef Masters and since then has earned a host of culinary titles?
1. Bryant Terry
2. Marcus Samuelsson
3. Sam Davis
4. Carla Hall
Marcus Samuelsson
Marcus Samuelsson, born Kassahun Tsegie, is an Ethiopian Swedish chef who owns and serves as head chef at the famed Red Rooster in Harlem NYC. As well he owns Marc Burger in Chicago and Costa Mesa, Calif.; Street Food Restaurant in Stockholm; and C-House Restaurant in Chicago.
Who was known as the Dean of Southern Cuisine?
1. Joe Randall
2. Ignacious Randall
3. Stan Jones
4. Dean Smart
Joe Randall
Joe Randall, Dean of Southern Cuisine, is also a founder of the Southern Foodways Alliance, as well as an executive chef at over a dozen restaurants. He has held faculty positions at several culinary schools and today runs his own cooking school in Savannah, Georgia.
Tennis star, Venus William, is now owner and spokesperson for what juice bar, particularly popular in California and the Washington D.C./ Maryland areas?
1. Jamba Juice
2. Mad Mango
3. Crazy Carrots
4. Twisted Wicked
Jamba Juice
Venus has opened up six franchises of Jamba Juice in DC and Maryland. She says her “goal is to help inspire our nation’s youth to become more active and to make better dietary choices”.
Who was the African American who, as a boy, worked in a bakery and later invented a machine to make bread crumbs from day-old bread and also invented the bread making machine which serves as precursor to all the bread making machines of today?
1. Joseph Lee
2. Hercules
3. Tyrone Brown
4. Marcus Lee
Joseph Lee
Joseph Lee, who was born in Boston in 1849, not only helped to mechanize the baking industry, but, during his lifetime, also opened two restaurants, owned and managed a hotel and owned a catering business called the Lee Catering Company.
Who was a chef de cuisine, trained in Paris, but was born into slavery and spent most of his life enslaved?
1. Frederick Douglass
2. Henry Bibb
3. Thomas Jefferson
4. James Heming
James Heming
James Heming, mulatto son of Elizabeth Heming and brother of Sally Heming, enslaved consort of then Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, was one of the earliest first Black chefs in the new United States of America. Heming opened his own kitchen in 1790 and also served as official chef to Thomas Jefferson.
What famous basketball player owns stake in a chain of pizzerias and what is the name of them?
1. Lebron James, Blaze Pizza
2. Michael Jordan, Mike’s Pizza
3. Dominique Wilkins, Pizza at the Top
4. Steph Curry, Curry’s Pizza
Lebron James, Blaze Pizza
Lebron James was a founding investor in a pizzeria called Blaze Pizza when there were only two restaurants now there is a chain of restaurants all over the country and in Canada.
What Black family now owns 16 locations of McDonalds in Southern California and has been featured in Black Enterprise?
1. Charlotte Webb and family
2. Reginald Webb and family
3. Mo Brown and family
4. Stuart Little and family
Reginald Webb and family
Reginald Webb, who bought his first McDonald's franchise in 1973, is now the patriarch of an empire of sixteen franchises owned by him and two of his three children. Their business model is so successful that in 2014, they earned the Black Enterprise Small Business Award Franchise Company of the Year.
What is the name of the most well-known African American made cookie?
1. Lorna Doones Cookies
2. Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies
3. Mrs. Field’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
4. Cookies by Atlanta Cookie Company
Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies
Famous Amos Cookies was founded in Los Angeles in 1975 by Wally Amos. The company sold more than $1 million worth of cookies by its second year.
Which chef is NOT appeared among the top male chefs in the U.S.?
1. G. Garvin
2. Sam Davis
3. Al Terry
4. Jes Henderson
Sam Davis
Sam (Samantha) Davis is a second generation Jamaican woman chef who launched her catering business Savor by Sam in 2011 and catapulted to one of the most respected chefs in New York City.
Which chef has also been a TV personality, a model and was on two seasons of Bravos cooking show, Top Chef?
1. Carla Bingington
2. Carla Hall
3. Carla Thompsom
4. Carla Clark
Carla Hall
Carla Hall began her cooking career operating her own catering business, Alchemy Caterers, later appearing in the fifth and eighth seasons of Top Chef and serving as co-host of The Chew, an ABC talk show about cooking and food.
What enslaved woman rose from a humble house servant to one of the most noted and most sought after chefs because of her extravagant multi-course meals?
1. Emily White
2. Martha Jones
3. Martha White
4. Emeline Jones
Emeline Jones
Emeline Jones was born a slave in the 1830s, but by the 1880s, she had settled in Manhattan and established a prominent catering business. A number of prominent New York chefs trained under her and it is said that Presidents Arthur and Cleveland were so fond of her cooking that each offered her a big salary to serve as White House chef, but she refused.
Who was a chef who left her medical career in cancer research to start a catering business that blossomed into her coveted position of Chef de Cuisine at Henry at Life Hotel in NYC?
1. Sam Davis
2. Chaya Fletcher
3. George Haynes
4. Tonya Hollins
Sam Davis
Sam (Samantha) Davis launched her catering business “Savor by Sam” in 2011 and has since made a name for herself among many respected talents with the domestic and international food scenes. In 2016 she was selected as the New York City Wine and Food Festival featured chef.
What professional chef is pictured on the box of Cream of Wheat breakfast cereal?
1. Frank L. White
2. Amos R. Pitts
3. Joey T. White
4. Frank L. Black
Frank L. White
The picture on the Cream of Wheat box is that of Frank L. White, who was photographed in a Chicago restaurant while working there as a chef in the late 1800s; however, his name was never recorded and it’s likely he never received compensation for the photograph that continues to be used to this day.
Who is the model turned restaurateur, who opened her first restaurant in NYC in 1986 and thereafter opened several other restaurants?
1. Tyra Banks
2. Beverly Johnson
3. Beverly E. Smith (B. Smith)
4. Naomi Sims
Beverly E. Smith (B. Smith)
Beverly Elaine Smith, popularly known as B. Smith, was a model in the mid-60s with Ebony Fashion Fair and the first African American model to appear on the cover of Mademoiselle magazine in 1976. In 1986 she opened her first restaurant in NYC and several other successful ones afterwards, each of which was called B. Smith. By 2014 her restaurants had closed, around the same time she developed early-onset Alzheimer's disease.
Which chef was known as the “Queen of Creole Cuisine”?
1. Leah Chase
2. Zephyr Wright
3. Sunny Anderson
4. Tonya Hollins
Leah Chase
Leah Chase, based in New Orleans LA, was an author and television personality who opened her very popular restaurant, Dooky Chase, in the 1960s and brought Creole cooking to international attention. She died in 2019 at the age of 96.
What is the oldest known Black restaurant in the U.S.?
1. Dookey Chase (New Orleans)
2. Jones Bar B Q Diner (Marianna)
3. Motor City Soul Food (Detroit)
4. Martha Lou’s Kitchen (Charleston)
Jones Bar B Q Diner (Marianna)
Jones Bar-B-Q Diner in Marianna, Arkansas is believed to be the oldest Black-owned continuously run restaurant in the country. Currently owned by James Jones and his wife Betty, the diner was founded by James’ grandfather, Walter Jones as early as 1910.
Who was the first African American to win the esteemed James Beard Foundation Book of the Year Awards; which recognizes exceptional culinary professionals in the United States?
1. Michael Twitty
2. Carla Hall
3. Joe Randall
4. B. Smith
Michael Twitty
In 2018, culinary historian, Michael Twitty, became the first African-American to win the coveted James Beard Foundation Book of the and Best Writing awards with his book, "The Cooking Gene, A Journey through African American Culinary History in the Old South".
Who was the first African American to own a McDonald's restaurant and where was it?
1. Herman Russell, Atlanta
2. Herman Johnson, Philadelphia
3. Herman Petty, Chicago
4. Herman Peters, Detroit
Herman Petty, Chicago
On December 21, 1968, Herman Petty of Chicago opened the first black owned McDonald's franchise. By the end of 1969, there were 12 African American-owned and operated McDonald's restaurants, mostly located in the Midwest.
Which of the following was never a chef on a TV program?
1. Gerry “G.” Garvin
2. Melba Wilson
3. Herb Wilson
4. Flip Wilson
Flip Wilson
Flip Wilson was a stand-up comic from the 60s and never associated with the Food Network. Gerry Gavin hosted the show "Road Trip With G. Garvin"; Melba Wilson appeared on season 4 of "Throwdown!" With Bobby Flay; Herb Wilson appeared on a season of Bravo’s "Top Chef."
Who is the Black and Jewish chef who is also a culinary historian and author?
1. Conway Twitty
2. Michael Twitty
3. Jerome Michaels
4. Michael Johnson
Michael Twitty
Michael Twitty, author of "The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South",founded and oversees the Southern Discomfort Tour, a journey through the American South designed to raise awareness about the impact racism had on Southern cuisine.
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African Americans have proven themselves to be skilled experts in the art of cooking since arriving to the United States; learn what contributions they have made to the national culinary scene.
