This is a Members Only event. If you are not already a member, you may purchase a general admission ticket that includes a membership to MoAD.

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Join MoAD for an exceptional evening of international cuisine, lively entertainment, and insightful conversation with MoAD's Chef-in-Residence and two of America's Top Chef's.

MoAD's Chef-in-Residence Jocelyn Jackson will curate the event featuring an international menu from Top Chef Junior finalist Rahanna Bisseret Martinez. At age 19, Martinez published her first cookbook, Flavor + Us (release date May 16, 2023), the second book from award-winning chef Bryant Terry's new imprint 4 Color Books. Guests will feast on a multi-course meal designed by Chef Sarah Kirnon with inspiration from Martinez's cookbook.  Kirnon is known for her Afro-Caribbean fare at the beloved Oakland restaurant Miss Ollie's and pop-up Holder's House. Each guest will also receive a signed copy of Martinez' newly released Flavor + Us.

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Top Chef All-Star and Emmy award-winning chef, author and television host Carla Hall will be in conversation with rising star Martinez. Be a part of the conversation as they discuss their televised competitions and the importance of intergenerational collaboration.

The Diaspora Dinner will be held at the beautiful new Southeast Community Center, 1550 Evans Avenue, San Francisco.

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COVID Protocol: Masks are encouraged during the event when not eating or drinking. If you are feeling unwell, please rest at home. Thank you for helping to keep everyone healthy and safe.

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This program is made possible by the generous support of Kaiser Permanente

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Carla Hall first won over audiences when she competed on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and “TopChef: All Stars” and shared her philosophy to always cook with love. She is a trained chef who has worked in several professional restaurankitchens in and around the Washington, D.C. area and believes food connects us all, a belief she strives to convey through her work, her cooking, and in her daily interactions with others. Carla spent 7 years co-hosting ABC’s Emmy award winning, popular lifestyle series “The Chew”, and is currently featured on the Food Network in shows such as “Thanksgiving, Holiday and Halloween Baking Championships” (judge), and “Worst Cooks in America”.  Her latest cookbook, Carla Hall’s Soul Food:Everyday and Celebration, was published in 2018, landing on annual "Best Cookbook" lists across the country and receiving an NAACP Image Awards nomination. Hall published her debut picture book, Carla and the Christmas Cornbread, in November 2021 with Denene Millner Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. Illustrated by Cherise Harris, Carla and the Christmas Cornbread is a heart warming tale loosely based on Hall’s childhood growing up in Nashville,TN, that celebrates family traditions, old and new, and also includes a child-friendly Christmas cornbread recipe perfect for the holidays.

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Rahanna Bisseret Martinez began cooking earlier than most. She was the second-place finisher on season one of Top Chef Junior, after which she began interning around the world: at Dominique Ansel Bakery LA, Chez Panisse, Broken Spanish, Gwen LA, Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel Air, Emeril’s, Compere Lapin, Californios, Reem’s, Dyafa, Merchant Roots, Ms. Chi Café, Tartine Bakery, Mister Jiu’s, and Ikoyi. Rahanna contributes recipes to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Today show, and many others. She lives in Oakland, California, with her family.

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Sarah Kirnon is a West Indian chef. Kirnon owned and operated Miss Ollie's, an Afro-Caribbean restaurant in Oakland, California, from 2012 until 2019, when she announced she would close the restaurant to reopen the space as a non-profit incubator for Black chefs, artists, musicians and other creators. Sarah Kirnon was born in the 1960s in Leicestershire, England. Her mother is Barbadian and her father, Antiguan. She identifies as West Indian. At the age of four, her parents sent her to four roads, Saint John, Barbados to live with her maternal grandmother and great-grandmother. Kirnon credits her time in Barbados with instilling a love for food. Her grandmother and uncles raised produce and animals on their farm, using the ingredients in daily cooking.

In 1999, Kirnon moved to San Francisco and eventually to Oakland to serve as chef at Hibiscus, where she created contemporary Caribbean food. In January 2012, she left Hibiscus, announcing that she would open a restaurant in downtown Oakland named Miss Ollie's, named after her grandmother who died in 2011. In December 2012, Miss Ollie's opened in Swan's Marketplace in Oakland. The restaurant specialized in Caribbean cuisine. Menu items included many favorites from her childhood, such as fried chicken, saltfish and ackee, and goat curry. In 2016, Kirnon and Miss Ollie's were featured in the documentary Hungry. Miss Ollie's was named one of the top 100 restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2018 and 2019 by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Kirnon started to re-examine the concept of the brick and mortar restaurant because of the impact the COVID-19pandemic had on the restaurant industry. She believed that pop-ups and smaller establishments, with lower overhead and smaller staffs, would be more common after the pandemic. Kirnon announced s he would close Miss Ollie's at the end of 2020 to reopen the space as Sanctuary, a non-profit business incubator for Black creatives.

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Jocelyn Jackson is an award-winning chef, artist, teacher, and activist who was raised on the Kansas plains by a Tuskegee Airmen and the first Black woman to run for Mayor in Wichita. Her family tradition of social justice led her to pursue a law degree after completing her BA in Fine Arts. After practicing law for six years in DC she spent two years in Mali and across West Africa as a Natural Resource Volunteer and returned to the states to finish her formal education with a MS in Environmental Education. Once she landed in the Bay Area her lifelong devotion to healing food experiences became the vessel for her cultural entrepreneurship and activism. Jocelyn has been a professional cook for over 12 years. She spoke on the principles of community nourishment at Court Bouillon in Southern France, and was part of the team that presented the inaugural Diaspora Dinner at MoAD. She is the founder of JUSTUS Kitchen and the co-founder of People’s Kitchen Collective (PKC). Both organizations serve to center the lived experience and liberation of Black and brown peoples using food, art, and social justice as vehicles for change.  

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Jocelyn has received several honors as an artist and chef over the years. She was named Rising Star Chef alongside PKC by the SF Chronicle, received the Rainin Open Spaces and Fellows Grant, Creative Capital Award, Ruth Foundation for the Arts Grant, and Headlands Center for the Arts Residency. In 2021 she was selected for Ava DuVernay’s LEAP Foundation Grant to create a culinary arts based installation that reflected the story of Philando Castille. Jocelyn has published writing on the topics of food and justice in Eater, Epicurious, The Kitchn, Feed the Resistance by Julia Turshen, and Black Food by Bryant Terry.

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ABOUT FLAVOR+US

A mouthwatering dive into cuisines from all over the world, featuring more than 70 recipes that teach need-to-know cooking techniques and build confidence for anyone who wants a seat at the chopping board, stove, and table—from a Top Chef Junior finalist.

“Rahanna Bisseret Martinez’s recipes are inspiring for the ways in which they approach, transcend, and unify cultural boundaries on page after delicious page.”—Hawa Hassan, James Beard Award–winning author of In Bibi’s Kitchen

In this approachable cookbook, Rahanna Bisseret Martinez shares how to make food from around the world that respects the earth, workers, and consumers. A college freshman who has already cooked in the finest restaurants, she serves up lessons, tips, and tricks she has learned since her culinary career began at age thirteen, including techniques for everything from roasting and stir frying to pickling and infusing. The desserts and drinks chapters are perfect for hosting and making everyday meals special. Flavor+Us is filled with stories from Rahanna’s experiences learning to cook in her family’s Californian kitchen, her time competing on Top Chef Junior, and the restaurants where she learned what cooking in community means.

Flavor+Us features recipes from:

• Mexico: Masa Doughnuts with Earl Gray Glaze
• Haiti: Makawoni au Graten
• Cuba: Frijoles Negros
• Korea: Yachaejeon with Cho Ganjang
• China: Dry-Fried Green Beans
• The Philippines: Dungeness Crab Tinola
• Japan: Trinity Korokke
• Vietnam: New Orleans-Style Vietnamese Iced Coffee
• Ethiopia: Miser Wot
• Jamaica: Jerk Eggplant Steaks
• And more!

This is the ideal resource for new cooks and anyone who wants to refine the basics. All are welcome at Rahanna’s table.

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