Entrepreneur, chef, poet and activist, Omar Tate certainly dons multiple hats. But the one that he’s the proudest of is ‘chef’.
But cooking never came naturally to Omar, who has been involved with his craft right from the time he was a young boy. He would cook dinners for his younger siblings while his mother – a single parent – was out at work. It was only later in his teens that Omar realized his passion for food.
This passion has led Omar Tate – one of the most promising chefs in the United States – to start a new revolution around food and the culinary arts. He and his wife – Cybille St.Aude Tate – are on a mission to transform the food & restaurant industry from being “platforms and theater for the rich” into a space of community & respect.
The Honeysuckle Projects
Honeysuckle – Omar Tate’s celebrated food joint – has been an immensely personal project. Started in 2017, Honeysuckle was born out of the need to create representation for Black and Afro-centric cuisines in the mainstream American culinary industry.
In the early days of his career as a chef (before Honeysuckle), Omar specialized in Italian and French food – two cuisines that America loves. Although blessed with promising skills, Omar found himself being sidelined and his creativity questioned by the leading players in the industry, mainly due to his race. A case in point, he states in his interview with Something Curated, was the job rejection he received from an Italian eatery chain, because he “didn’t look like the person they wanted to run their restaurant”.
This incident prompted Omar to take a closer look at issues of representation in the American food industry and re-evaluate his country’s culinary tastes and practices. He visited the South – specifically the plantation where his ancestors were enslaved. There he learned the history of his family, the legacy of the African slave trade and their impact on African-American cuisine.
From this thought grew Honeysuckle – a place dedicated to celebrating America’s Black and Afro-centric culinary traditions. But Honeysuckle isn’t your run-of-the-mill restaurant. It is a Pop-up or “traveling dining experience”, where food and contemporary black culture meld together seamlessly.
Honeysuckle offers a themed dinner with four courses, made using ingredients that are native to African countries. The food here isn’t plated and served on fine china, but instead in a takeout box. Tucked away in each takeout box is a poem penned by Omar, an ode to the main ingredient of the food he’s prepared that day.
The idea is to show food through contemporary black eyes and to share the reality of black life experiences in a white America. His pop-up restaurant not only celebrates food, but there’s art and music, all created by and inspired by artists of African heritage.
Omar’s wife Cybille, who is an equally reputed chef of Haitian heritage, adds her own Caribbean culinary heritage to the food they make in Honeysuckle. With her help, Honeysuckle has been able to offer diners an unforgettable culinary experience.
Re-defining what it means to eat
Honeysuckle was started first in New York. Before the coronavirus pandemic, Omar announced his plans to build a large, membership-based eatery, which would also house a contemporary art gallery, a café and a supper club.
But once the lockdown was announced and panic about the virus increased racial tensions across the country, Omar realized the need of the hour was family and community. Leaving New York, he and Cybille moved to West Philadelphia, where his mother lives.
There they started the Honeysuckle pop-up again. It was at this time that Omar found out about his grandfather James Jamison’s work as an activist in the 60’s. His grandfather served the Philadelphia black community through home cooked meals and free lessons to black children who were denied education. This inspired him towards a different dream. He wished to build a Honeysuckle Community Center where people of African heritage and other minority communities could break bread and be heard without being disrespected and denied.
Through their community center, Omar and Cybille doesn’t just want to feed people, but nourish them – body, mind and soul. They intend to do this with art, music, poetry, black history and foods inspired by African-American legacies. For example, one meal Omar plans to incorporate in the community center restaurant is the custardy bean pie topped with espresso whipped cream. This is an ode to his Nation of Islam upbringing. The culture there rejected the ingredients commonly used in soul food – ingredients which were forced upon enslaved Africans because of their low cost to slave owners. Another dish that he wants to include is the “Remnants on a South Philly Stoop” – a dish made using sunflower seeds, crab, garlic powder and charred lemon, which is pretty common in the Philadelphia black community.
Other items on Omar & Cybille’s menu are inspired by real-life incidents surrounding black rights. For example, The Philadelphia Negro survey, the 1972 MOVE bombings and the 2020 Black Life Matters movement.
Currently, Omar and Cybille are in the process of acquiring funds to buy a permanent building for their proposed community center. They wish for it to house a grocery store that stocks all ingredients commonly used in African inspired cuisines. If their dream is realized, the Honeysuckle Community Center will be one of the largest black-owned businesses in Philadelphia – a state where only a handful of black-owned businesses exist.
Bridging the gap between communities
Outlining their vision for Honeysuckle and American food culture, Omar and Cybille hope that their pop-up and community center will bridge the gap between minority communities and the white community in America. They believe that Omar’s experience as a French and Italian chef, plus their African culinary heritage, will give them the unique power to do so.
The couple hopes to beautifully bring together disparate elements of American cuisine, creating signature dishes that represent what the United States should be – a home for people of all races.
Right now, Omar has a GoFundMe campaign where he hopes to raise $250,000 for the brick-and-mortar Honeysuckle restaurant and community center. As of writing, he has raised $94,758. Each contributor will receive original artwork from Omar as a thank you gift. Contributors who donate more than $100 will also receive a signature Honeysuckle bean pie in the mail. With these investments, Omar and Cybille hope to open the Honeysuckle brick-and-mortar restaurant in early 2022.