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Black Student Union member Maya Bell (’27) passes out a portion to Darian Weiss (’26). All the food was brought in by members of the community, and each food represents different family traditions. “We just asked our community, the Black Student Union, to bring meals that are important to their families, such as mac and cheese, yams, stuff like that,” board member Simonne McDavid(’25) said.
Photo credit: Shae Killam
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A “Taste of Soul” garland hangs in the courtyard in front of the bell. “This is our third year doing this,” faculty adviser Dani LeNoir said. “We wanted to bring the community together and celebrate all different dishes across the African diaspora.”
Photo credit: Shae Killam
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Seventh grader Ally Butler smiles while holding a plate of food from the Taste of Soul event. Ally Butler said she was very excited to taste the food selection, especially because she remembered her favorite foods from the previous year. “I think i’m I’m probably most excited to try the jambalaya and the roti, becuase I remember loving them from last year,” Butler said.
Photo credit: Shae Killam
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Students break out in a spontaneous dance session to songs like “Wobble” and “Cupid Shuffle.” Students from a variety of grades joined in, including some teachers. “I really liked the music, I think it brought energy and positivity to the courtyard,” Lulu Weitzman (’31) said.
Photo credit: Shae Killam
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A long line of students wait for food during the annual Taste of Soul Celebration. Sixth grader Abby Levitt said that she and her friends waited for a long time before they got their food. “We were in the line for so long, but the food was definitely worth the wait,” Levitt said.
Photo credit: Shae Killam
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Students hold white paper plates, filled with different foods. Eva Garon (’27) said she loves Taste of Soul becuase she gets to learn about other cultures and traditions. “I love that I am able to get a taste of a culture that I would not be able to in another space,” Garon said.
Photo credit: Shae Killam
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Sixth grader Abby Levitt’s friend group sit together and enjoy the Taste of Soul feast. The students all agreed that their favorite foods were the pumpkin pie and the mac and cheese. “The sweet potato pie was my favorite because it was really sweet,” Levitt said, ” and the mac and cheese because it was really rich and creamy.”
Photo credit: Shae Killam
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Iced tea and peach pie are displayed on tables for students to try. Simonne McDavid (’25) said she brought yams because they are important to her family. “Usually for Christmas, my grandmother makes yams,” McDavid said. “She makes all other types of dishes, but yams are special because spelling she doesn’t make it all year round.”
Photo credit: Shae Killam
The sunny courtyard was filled with steaming food and laughter as the Black Student Union (BSU) hosted the third annual Taste of Soul celebration Feb. 27. The event commemorates Black History Month through traditional food and music.
BSU board member Cheyenne Pitcher (’25) said she enjoys being a part of BSU because it gives her a sense of community and offers her a space to bond with others.
“BSU allows me to connect with other Black students at the school and allows me to share my culture,” Pitcher said. “I like helping out the younger Black students and being a role model for them, but also someone they could come to talk to about anything.”
Pitcher said putting together the Taste of Soul is an outlet to share her culture with the broader community. Food, in particular, is a great way to share her culture with others, she said.
“When we’re bringing our own food and our own dishes, we’re bringing a sense of culture and … a sense of Black culture to the Archer community,” Pitcher said. “The students are able to taste the food themselves and not just hear about it or see it. Actually being able to experience the food is powerful.”
Senior Sydney Curry has been on the BSU executive board for three years. Curry said BSU has given her an outlet to find a strong community in a place where not many people look like her.
“Knowing that you are in a place where the majority of people don’t look like you, you have to find spaces — affinity spaces, fellowships, communities,” Curry said. “So being a part of BSU was always something that I think I innately knew that I was going to do.”
Pitcher said she loves bringing her own food to Taste of Soul because it helps share her personal life with the Archer community. Foods like cornbread, red beans and rice, jambalaya and beignets were some of the many foods present at the event.
“This year, I’m bringing the cornbread, which I’m pretty excited about,” Pitcher said. “My mom’s going to make it. I think it’s really nice to be able to contribute something from my own personal home.”
Curry introduced Taste of Soul to the BSU executive board three years ago. She is happy to have been able to contribute something to a community that means a lot to her.
“I was head of events the year we started Taste of Soul, so this event is kind of like one of my babies. This is one of those events that I really care about because I had the pleasure of introducing it. It’s become a staple of BSU,” Curry said. ” We do Taste of Soul to honor the culinary contributions of Black Americans, but also because Taste of Soul is an actual thing in Black Los Angeles, so we wanted to bring a bit of that culture and a bit of that sense of community to Archer,” Curry said. “Events like Taste of Soul remind people of the richness of Black history. It’s making sure that our culture and community shine through, but it’s also making sure that this is a celebratory month.”
Similarly, board member Simonne McDavid (’25) said her favorite part of Taste of Soul is seeing students and faculty come together to support the Black community.
“I love having our community come out and bond with each other through our music and our dancing,” McDavid said. “I really like seeing our whole school come out and support Black Student Union.”
Taste of Soul drew students to the courtyard to try new and traditional food. Curry said she hopes Taste of Soul can highlight the accomplishments that are connected to the Black community.
“We have a lot of time where we can talk about the struggles that the Black community faces, like the obstacles that we have faced historically,” Curry said. “But I think BSU, especially in Black History Month, likes to point out the points of pride.”
