I started hosting Juneteenth celebrations at least a decade before the day became a national holiday in 2021.
I relish any opportunity to gather friends in my garden. It’s a chance to throw whole branzino, summer squash, and bell peppers on the grill. I get to show off my grandmother’s pound cake recipe and churn fresh vanilla ice cream in honor of James Hemings, Thomas Jefferson’s enslaved chef who is often credited with popularizing the French dessert.
These are just some of the dishes I prepare on the date that marks when the federal army arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the freedom of enslaved Black people on June 19, 1865—more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Texans have recognized Juneteenth with picnics and parades for more than a century. But as the holiday grows, I’ve found that many people have questions about what might be the “right” way to celebrate—and who’s invited to join in festivities.
To discuss this, I asked my dear friend Carla Hall, whose cookbooks and menus center celebrations, to join me in the Bon Appétit offices for a candid conversation about the holiday. We talked about the history and future of Juneteenth, and how we like to honor it with friends, family, and, of course, lots of food.
The interview has been condensed and edited by Rochelle Oliver for length and clarity. Listen to the conversation on a special episode of ‘Dinner SOS’ here.
Jamila Robinson: You and I love to throw a party. We love celebrations. How did you start celebrating Juneteenth?
Carla Hall: As somebody who started living with someone from Texas 20 years ago, I knew the date, but it wasn’t necessarily my holiday.
JR: I started celebrating Juneteenth [when] I was an intern in Minnesota. I knew about the history of what happened in Galveston, Texas, and that this was the last stop [for Union troops marching] on Emancipation. But it took me going to Minnesota and seeing people who were from Texas having a big Juneteenth party. It was like, Oh, a party for Emancipation. I’m very interested in that.
CH: I’m loving that you were with someone from Texas who was in Minnesota. I was with someone from Texas who was in DC. Really, it was these people from Texas who exported the idea of celebrating this holiday. When I think about how food moves, how culture moves, it goes out like tentacles all over the country. But it took someone from Texas.
JR: It’s interesting to think about people exporting or importing their culture. When I travel, I notice that almost every country—especially in the Caribbean and parts of South America—all have an Emancipation Day. There’s a parade. People dress up. These places that have a history of enslavement celebrate Emancipation. We can learn from those cultures.
CH: My friend Greta, who is from Houston, would always go back for Juneteenth because the celebrations were big. It was about family and bringing people together—like a statewide family reunion.
JR: I love that.
CH: When [Emancipation] happened, [Black] people weren’t celebrating yet. They were looking for their family members. [Juneteenth] is about bringing people back, about people coming together.
JR: Let’s dig into the food a little bit. One of the things that I had been thinking as a leader in food media is, How do we expand the reverence for the holiday? What cultural markers can we incorporate?
CH: Food is a starting place. So why watermelon, right? This was one of the first times you had Black commerce: formerly enslaved people growing watermelons to make their own money. That is a reason to celebrate. You had people understanding their independence and their liberation. Then, you [had] another group like, Oh my gosh, Black people can’t eat watermelon. People still hold that [belief]. They hold that before they hold the truth of why watermelon was important. I think it’s reclaiming the truth.
JR: Absolutely. The truth of that was financial liberation. As we think about Juneteenth and why we eat certain foods, it’s important to also incorporate history onto the plates. That leads me to a big question: Who gets to go to Juneteenth? Now, I throw a pretty big Juneteenth party.
CH: You love a party, and I love to go to your parties.
JR: I invite everybody I know, friends from all kinds of backgrounds. A couple of my friends who are not Black were so happy to be invited because they weren’t sure if they were allowed to celebrate. One year, after the holiday, someone asked me, “How was your Juneteenth?” I was like, “It was great. How was yours?” She looked at me with a blank face. It didn’t occur to her that she should be celebrating. She thought Juneteenth was the Black July Fourth. How do you think non-Black people should commemorate Juneteenth?
CH: I think that if any group is not free, no one is free. I’ve been to a seder, and I’m not Jewish. I think people [can be] curious about a holiday. The fact that Juneteenth is a national holiday opens the door for everyone to understand why it is important. It’s also important for us to understand, as a country, why and how this happened. So, are you going to be invited to a cookout at one of your Black friends’ homes? [Laughter.] Do you know Black people? I think you can start there.
JR: That’s right.
CH: This is when you can reflect [on your community]. If you realize, Oh my gosh. There’s not a single person who would invite me to their house [for a Juneteenth party], start there. Get to know some other people. Let’s look at our friends. And that goes both ways. If you’re Black and you have a party, what other people can you pull in to understand what your history is and why you’re celebrating?
JR: That’s so important because [society has] recently started to reexamine other holidays. As Frederick Douglass said, “What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?” Juneteenth allows us to think about our values as a society. When you invite people into those conversations, it helps you explore something as important as Juneteenth. It was closing the circle of American holidays: Memorial Day, July Fourth, Juneteenth, and Labor Day.
CH: Some people say that it should be celebrated from Juneteenth to July Fourth because you’re celebrating this whole period of independence.
JR: Oh, I would enjoy that.
CH: Right? It’s like your independence period.
JR: To look at an entire period as a jubilee, this period of excitement, parades, sharing. You invite me to your home, throw a party, we eat delicious food and learn together.
CH: It’s not just a day. It’s a feeling. It’s building to something. So, I believe in reincarnation. I believe that I was born into this Black female body for a reason. So I have some of the hard conversations because I know I’m supposed to make it to the other side of those conversations. I don’t want to be stuck here. Without those conversations, I don’t learn. I don’t grow. I apply the same [expectations] to my cultural group. You can have the food. You can celebrate the date. But have you truly moved toward liberation?
JR: I did not know that about you. That is a very beautiful sentiment about sharing because food is culture. Food is humanity. These liberation foods that we share during Juneteenth help to reconnect that culture and that humanity. It brings us closer.
CH: As a culture, if we [as Black people] can remember and understand why this date is important, we heal.
JR: What are you cooking [for] Juneteenth? Do you cook all of the traditional foods?
CH: If I’m doing a cookout I am pretty traditional. I want to have the barbecue and the red sauce with a little tanginess. I would do watermelon in several different ways. I am going to have fried chicken because of the significance of being able to have the oil and the yardbird. The hot chicken from where I’m from in Nashville—I want to have that. I want a good potato salad with sweet potatoes and Yukon Gold potatoes to show how we have changed in terms of soul food.
JR: I grew up in Detroit, [one of] the last stops on the Underground Railroad. My relationship with freedom is very different from people who grew up in the South. So, my dishes are a little different.
CH: Tell me what yours are.
JR: I cook whatever I want.
CH: You don’t feel like you’re boxed in.
JR: My last Juneteenth party [in DC], I did a Baltimore crab boil with Old Bay seasoning. I also incorporated things that I just like. I made wheat waffles and some salads. I made ice cream. I wish I could fry chicken like you, but I can’t. And my red drink—one of my favorite recipes [from the Bon Appétit archives]—a hibiscus-vanilla agua fresca. You may see different dishes in California or in Minnesota. In Austin, you’re going to get that big barbecue and that Latin influence. I think that is an exciting way for us to think about all of the influences we can bring to our table.
CH: Just changing up your menu is liberation. Ask yourself, what do you want to share with the people who come to your party? What dishes become freeing to you?
JR: How do you want to see this day evolve?
CH: I want a period of celebration. It will, because it’s a national holiday, become commercial. But right now, we get to dictate what that looks like. I’m hoping that it is more about family time, independent thinking, and authenticity.
JR: I am hoping for the same. I’m hoping that [all] people will start a cookout of their own and invite their friends for their own liberation period.
Read all about it
Whether you’re looking for Juneteenth menu inspiration or perspective on Black American foodways, here are a few of my favorite books.
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts by Crystal Wilkinson
This lyrical book from the former poet laureate of Kentucky combines recipes and vivid storytelling to honor five generations of Black Appalachian cooks.
Jubilee by Toni Tipton-Martin
Tipton-Martin is a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, and her 2019 cookbook explores 200 years of African American culinary history.
Watermelon & Red Birds by Nicole A. Taylor
Published less than a year after Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, Taylor’s beautiful book of essays and recipes brings its history to life.
Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration by Carla Hall
Hall’s joyous 2018 cookbook pays homage to the rich cultural heritage of Black Southern food, and it should be a go-to for anyone planning a holiday feast.