Why are red foods popular during Juneteenth celebrations?

Chef Krystal Carter has had a passion for culinary arts since the age of 4.

She knew her way around a kitchen and the story behind Juneteenth. What she did not know was the historical context behind the celebration of red foods. And it wasn’t until she entered Juneteenth Houston’s first red food cook-off competition that she learned of this.

“Before last year, I didn’t have a concept of the importance of red foods as it pertained to Juneteenth or to our people,” said Carter, a Houston home cook who competes under the name Chef Krissy D. “And then I went into research.”

The hibiscus flower, which she had long used in floral arrangements, was brought to the Americas by enslaved Africans, valued for its medicinal properties and deep red hue. The drink in the pitcher at every cookout she had ever attended was a living artifact of a culture that crossed an ocean and refused to disappear.

“I have a shirt that I wear that says, ‘ My freedom wasn’t free.’ And I think about the blood that was shared by our ancestors to get us to be able to dance in the streets,” Carter said. “To be able to have that cookout, to have that community, to be able to just celebrate where we have come in the amount of time that we’ve made it.”

Carter is not alone in that discovery. Most people sitting at a Juneteenth table have never been told the full story of what they are eating, or why.

A tradition rooted in West Africa

According to culinary historian Michael Twitty, the red foods tradition at Juneteenth traces directly to the Yoruba and Kongo peoples of West Africa, brought to Texas during the final decades of the Atlantic slave trade. 

Red represented spiritual power, sacrifice, and transformation. West African hosts welcomed guests with red-hued bissap, a drink made from hibiscus flowers. Those offerings crossed the Atlantic alongside enslaved people to nourish their bodies, and quietly became the centerpiece of the oldest Black holiday in America.

Debra Blacklock-Sloan, a sixth-generation Texan with more than 30 years of experience as a genealogist and historical researcher, has spent her career documenting exactly this kind of unbroken line. She is also precise about the history surrounding June 19, 1865, the day Union Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation.

“Texas was part of the Confederacy,” Blacklock-Sloan said. “When (Abraham) Lincoln issued the proclamation, it did not apply to Confederate states. Quit saying we got the news late. We have to tell people the truth about Juneteenth.”

That insistence on accuracy extends to the food. She grew up celebrating June 19 as her mother’s birthday, eating barbecue and drinking red soda water, with no understanding of what the color meant or where it came from.

“We are eating this food, not knowing what the symbolism is,” she said. “We tell them with our friends, with our families, with our kids. Like the griots of West Africa, we have to keep passing it down.”

Keeping tradition alive

After emancipation, the Harris County Festival Association raised $800 to purchase 10 acres in the city’s Fourth Ward, land that became Emancipation Park, the first public park bought by formerly enslaved people specifically for Juneteenth celebrations. That history is part of why John Nicklos, Chair of Juneteenth Houston, believes the work being done here matters in a way it cannot be replicated elsewhere.

This year, Juneteenth Houston will launch the second Red Foods Cookout Cook-Off, a backyard-style competition inviting local chefs to create dishes rooted in the red foods tradition. It will begin on June 6, 1-3 PM at Emancipation Park. 

Carter won the inaugural title with June’s Jubilee: a champagne cake layered with raspberry coulis and a buttercream made with dehydrated strawberries, honoring both the celebration and the history she discovered in making it.

Nicklos said the cook-off was designed to make history accessible.

“The relationship between Black people on this soil and food on this soil is inextricable,” he said. “So much of it is rooted in the histories of Black people as we have cared for this land. Black culture is American culture. Please come sit at the table we built. And while you’re here, let me tell you a story.”

Each contestant in the inaugural cook-off was required to do more than cook. They were required to submit, in writing, the inspiration behind their dish, what makes it uniquely Juneteenth, and how it connects to Black history. In that requirement, Nicklos said, is the whole point.

“Being able to tell stories through food is quintessential to the Black experience,” he said. “So much of our storytelling includes food.”

For event information, visit juneteenthhouston.org

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Traditional Red Foods and Drinks

• Red Drinks: The most iconic, often including hibiscus tea (historically called “bissap”), red fruit punch, strawberry soda, and Texas-made Big Red soda.
• Watermelon: A staple that is in peak season, representing both sustenance and the freedom formerly enslaved people achieved.
• Red Velvet Cake: A popular dessert served to honor the occasion.
• Barbecue and Meats: Smoked meats, such as brisket and pork ribs, covered in tomato-based red sauces, as well as red-dyed hot links.
• Other Fruits/Veg: Strawberries, red berries, and beets.
• Dishes using Red Palm Oil: West African dishes like jollof rice.