Relationship Literacy

Food Literacy is not just about seeds growing, processing and cooking food a certain way but also about the deeper understanding of the importance of relationships. Here is a great example of such relationships that span across generations. Hìri is a community leader in my village in Murang’a county and he decided to gift me a most special gift: yams.

The gift however did not come from the modern mall, concealed in a colorful bag and wrapped in a translucent petticoat-like paper, but right from his small size farm. Even more interesting is that the gift was also hidden under the ground and it took the expertise of an elder with the disappearing art of digging yams in a way that does not damage the vitality of the vine. The gift had layers of mystery.

It was next to impossible to have known the size and shape of the yam tuber untill one dug it. Traditionally this was a mostly male food. It has amazing longevity in growing and in storage. Yams have always been planted in companion with a tree known as Mùkùngùgù. The tree offers a perfect environment for the yam to vine without competing for food. Both the tree and the vine are extremely resistant to drought.

It is clear that many of our elders have a lot to share if only the young have the interest to learn. The disappearance of such long-hold indigenous science that these elder possess is just as dangerous as the issues of climate change. As Joshua Abraham Hershel once said, " few are guilty but we are all responsible." We are all responsible for both climate change and equity in dealing with it its aftermath. Currently, the west has dominated the discourse, but we are changing that.

That kind of indigenous knowledge is what Afro Futuristic Conscious Cuisine is interested in promoting, preserving and advancing. Little will change unless we change the dynamics of our relationships both locally and globally.

But I will not be seating waiting for those relationships to change. I will do what I can. One of my immediate action plans this week is to roast this wonderful gift as my mother used to do for my father and then carry it on my journey back to the U.S. It will provide a most culturally appropriate lunch and dinner during the travel. Consuming yams during travels in the past was a common practice too. As one of the religious song here goes, I will fly and leave the early home and take to the sky where wonders will be happen like we have never seen before. Eating such an important food in the plane is my own way of communing with my ancestors both past and present.

Columbus and other explorers carried food in their travels, but in the end those travels ended in genocide. My goal is my travels will result in peace and joy.

Chef Kabui

The Hex Kitchen is a collaboration between Chef Kabui and the Hex community in a bid to promote food literacy, mindful eating and wealth creation. There is a natural connection between those who are fighting against fiat currency and those engaged in the struggle against fiat food. The two social ills of fiat currency and fiat food are at the heart of the tyrannic global world system we are now living in. That tyranny is directly connected to the climate crisis we face and there is no way we can solve one part of the problem without being mindful of the whole system, For a start, the Hex Kitchen is keen on addressing the issues of real money and real food as a basis on regaining our sovereign power. It is no accident that the struggle for food justice would find allies in cryptography and more specifically cryptocurrency. It is not a usual collaboration but yet it is one that makes sense on many levels. Chef Kabui has been studying and applying the power of food literacy, mindful eating and food justice in the struggle against oppression in general and specifically to people of African descent.

Chef Kabui has studied the disciplines of politics, anthropology and culinary arts and has designed a cuisine or rather an approach to food that is informed by the above experience and the indigenous knowledge that he gained from his Kenyan family’s history as sustainable farmers for generations. The combined experience and education resulted in the creation of a cuisine called Afro Futuristic Conscious Cuisine. It is a combination of the most sustainable practices in the growing, preparation of food with the goal of causing the least damage to the environment and maximizing the health benefits of the food. Those two conditions are necessary for a mindful community that ensures that justice thrives.

Chef Kabui has been pushing organic food and healthy eating based on his research and his own experience. The idea of healthy food and justice is not something that chef Kabui got into but was born in it. His family operated a farm and his father ran a restaurant in the capital city of Nairobi. Kabui grew up in the village with his mother where they grew almost all the food they consumed. It was at his family farm that he Kabui developed a love for fresh food and the art of consuming food following the natural cycles of seasons.

The collaboration aims to share the skills for healthy food to the Hex community and beyond. No community can survive without food and the Hex community is no different. The Hex Kitchen is another assembly point for the community to be nourished both physically and socially. While wealth is private, food is social and having a kitchen for the community to assemble is a great option for a community that is causing ripples across the world.

What to Expect

The Kitchen will have virtual classes, content on Youtube and other social media presence for a start. The goal is that the Kitchen will have a physical place that will have a kitchen in a farm that will grown food and have space that guest can visit. The farm will have a demonstration farm for the vegetables, fruits and herbs,

For the schedule of upcoming classes please visit our events section and find a class that is fit for your schedule.