‘Food is about community’: Charlotte Black bloggers strive for connection through cuisine
The number of Charlotte food bloggers has grown exponentially over the years, and the community of Black food bloggers is more present than ever.
What’s great about the diversity in food around Charlotte is the diversity within the community of food bloggers who write about where to find it.
Asha Ellison, or @ashaeatsworld on Instagram, moved to Charlotte from Florida in October 2016 on the heels of Hurricane Matthew.
“Ashaeatsworld started as a way to learn the food landscape in Charlotte but also as a way to meet people,” Ellison said.
She was always asking people in the community where to find the good stuff, preferring local food over the chain restaurants that pepper most metropolitan cities in America.
“Food is about community. It’s an opportunity for people to connect and have conversations, and to pick up the flavors and notes of the community,” Ellison said of her history with local cuisine.
It’s the reason why she decided to document her around-town eats once she became Charlotte-based.
Pressure to be in-the-know
As a food blogger, her Instagram features the businesses she loves to frequent around the city.
“I think there is a lot of pressure on foodies or bloggers to always be in-the-know, and that’s cool, but what (readers) will get on my page is honesty. What’s tried, what’s true and what’s new,” Ellison said.
She’s a repeat restaurant visitor. “You’ll always get authenticity, which is why you’ll see me go to the same place,” she said — even if she features different dishes.
The foodie scene wasn’t always as accessible as it is today, Ellison said. But thankfully, and intentionally, those days are fast fading into the sunset. These days, food bloggers collaborate over events and share meals together.
“The group of foodies eating together now is creating space for everyone, and that’s how it’s a community,” she said.
Daily Special CLT
Fellow foodie Cory Wilkins, or @dailyspecialclt as he’s known on Instagram, said he feels a sense of community among Black food bloggers. But four years ago, when he was new to Charlotte and just starting his blog, he recalls being one of too few Black food bloggers on the scene.
“There weren’t that many people to connect with,” Wilkins said.
One of the other things he noticed was the abundance of daily specials around Charlotte, but it left him wondering why there weren’t any websites that listed all of the specials in one place. He decided to create one, and dailyspecialclt.com became a space for locals to search specials around the city by food type, day of the week or neighborhood.
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The Instagram page bearing its namesake soon followed, but then Wilkins took notice of something else.
“I saw a hole in Charlotte, where there weren’t Black-owned restaurants being featured,” he said.
With that in mind, Wilkins features all kinds of eateries on his page, but is heavily geared toward Black and minority-owned restaurants. His joy is looking for hole-in-the-wall places — and it shows.
“It’s cool to try these places, talk to the owners and learn about the actual cuisine.”
He also operates @Blackguyscook on TikTok, where one of his videos of a local chef known as The Premier Chef (@thepremierchef on Instagram) recently went viral, getting over 2 million views and putting the local business owner on the map.
“People have been flying from all over the country to get his turkey legs,” Wilkins said. And it all came from his passion for visiting the “if you know, you know” places.
“The focus is to help shine some light on places that wouldn’t traditionally get a lot of shine.”
And while his contributions to the local food community are changing the landscape, it takes a village — and that’s exactly what’s happening.
Eat Black Charlotte
One of the ways he plugs into the local scene is via the Eat Black Charlotte group (@Eatblackclt on Instagram). The movement was started by a team of Black food bloggers in Charlotte in the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020, Wilkins said.
The group wanted to support the Black community by uplifting locally-owned restaurants, many of which were struggling during the pandemic. As they began to spotlight different places, they started using the #eatblackclt hashtag to promote awareness.
In June, Eat Black Charlotte week was held, with more than 35 Black-owned restaurants offering specials at the same time. At the end of the week, the Eat Black Charlotte team hosted a family-friendly food truck festival, where everyone could enjoy food from local Black-owned vendors.
Keep your eyes on its Instagram page, which continues to showcase snaps of all the best food around town. “We toss around places we want to go and [share] places that we find,” Wilkins said.
As for Wilkins’ future eats: “You’ll find me somewhere off the beaten path,” he said.
