Ty Rapp-Cortese is passionate about cooking and will be bringing his passion and cultural pride to the University of Alaska Southeast for Black History Month.
Rapp-Cortese is returning to campus Black History Month for the second time, and this year he will be cooking soul food. He shared his love of cooking with family and friends, and believes that sharing food is a way to build community.
He said that he loves to eat. It’s delicious food. It’s good food.
He plans to make chicken-fried cauliflower MORE and gumbo with the assistance of the Student Activities Board.
These events give him the opportunity to create community around food. Rapp-Cortese loves to share his culture through a soul food buffet.
span style=”font weight: 400 You can read a book but not taste it. It’s so cool to be able .”
Rapp-Cortese was a Southeast Alaskan child who ate Puerto-Rican food such as arroz con pollo. However, he spent his teenage years in Texas, where he was a Black kid.
span style=”font weight: 400 I had two lesbian grandparents, one Black Puerto Rican child, and 250 people in this small town of less that 200 people. He said it wasn’t the best recipe.
He moved from Texas to Georgia to live with his relatives, who taught him how soul food is made.
Rapp-Cortese stated that he felt a lot of internalized racist feelings as a child, but food helped him to accept his past. After returning to Juneau, he began to study history and worked for his family’s business.
As a sophomore at UAS he is now ready to share parts of his culture that he used to keep.
He said, “If there are other Black students around campus, it is not their job to spread their culture. But for me, it’s always one of my favorite thing to do is to share it.”
The UAS faculty and students are invited to attend his soul food buffet on February 24.
