Pop-up collective Stolen Goods, which highlights young chefs of color in metro Atlanta, will begin a monthlong residency at Nourish Botanica in the Joyland neighborhood this weekend.
The residency will kick off May 13 with chef Isiah “Izzy” Grier, and feature a different chef from noon-6 p.m. every Saturday through the end of the month. Grier serves as the executive chef at Dad’s in Virginia Highland and has worked in the kitchens of several local restaurants including Muss and Turner’s.
On May 20, Melanie Forehand, who previously worked for pitmaster Bryan Furman, will offer food from the Afro-Caribbean diaspora and on May 27, Maximilian Hines, who most recently worked at the now-shuttered Midtown restaurant the Lawrence, will serve his twist on cookout cuisine.
Founded by Hines, Stolen Goods is “a vehicle for chefs to express themselves, while reclaiming and explaining their own cultural narratives,” according to a press release. The name is “a reference to Black and brown people; we were stolen goods,” Hines said. “We were taken from our land. We were architects, scientists, mathematicians. We were a lot more than slaves.”
Greenhouse cafe Nourish Botanica, “a space for sustainable green entertaining and gathering that supports the local hospitality, art and agriculture ecosystem,” according to the release, opened earlier this year at 1651 Pryor Road SW.
A cafe incubator that launched in March features a revolving roster of local chefs and coffee businesses and seeks to “provide healthy food access and set the stage for the programming which amplifies Black voices, highlights Atlanta’s food justice organizers, foodways and farm communities.” Past pop-ups include Meraki Soul, Coffee Was Black and Vegan House of Pancakes. Nourish Botanica, which sits on 3/4 acres of land also hosts plant workshops, open mics and other events and is home to a plant and flower shop.
Founder Quianah Upton started out in 2014 with an art and retail business called Arbitrary Living that evolved into a food equity conversation event called Nourish In Black. The organization highlighted Atlanta’s local food justice organizations and farm community through outdoor festivals, dinner parties and other events.
In 2020, Upton founded Nourish the People, a fundraising and coordination campaign aimed at raising funds to purchase and distribute meals from black chefs and restaurants to serve at local protests. Nourish the People is relaunching this summer as a program offering free community breakfasts.
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