The Okra Project

The Okra Project is a collective that seeks to bring healthy and culturally specific meals and resources to Black Trans People. 

Why is it called The Okra Project? From their site: African ancestors snuck okra onto captive ships to sustain themselves and plant in the new world.

I've had this unpublished note a long time. My recollection is their website has changed a lot and no longer says that, or at least I could no longer find that description on the site the last time I looked.

I grew up in the Deep South and I'm interested in food and culture and okra is an important part of multicultural cuisine from the Louisiana area and I like Gumbo and one explanation of the word gumbo is that it means okra in some African language. That fits because African culture is one of the influences on Cajun and Creole cooking.

Okra has a bad reputation with some people who don't know how to cook it right. But I'm quite fond of okra if it's cooked right.

Anyway, that personal background is part of why this project caught my eye. I have no affiliation with them and no firsthand experience with what they do.