Hailing from South London with Grenadian and Irish heritage, Lelani Lewis grew up amongst the diversity of cuisine. Becoming obsessed with developing a mainstream platform for Caribbean food, Lelani wanted to demonstrate just how unique and diverse Caribbean cuisine is, combining her love of bringing people together around the table and paying homage to those who came before her. The rich histories of the islands provide a deep well of inspiration for Lelani to further explore the cultural impact of food, and how the world’s ingredients unravel beautiful– and tragic– stories.
To give people food for thought, Lelani created the interactive learning experience Code Noir, named after the 17th century manuscript defining the conditions of enslaved people in the French colonial empire. The immersive dinner delves into the history of Caribbean cuisine, and explores subjects like slavery, colonisation, and globalisation by using food, crockery, cutlery, drink pairings, music and performances as a narrative.
Catch Lelani at the Decolonising Design session – see full programme.