Happy Birthday Chef Ashbell McElveen - With Many Blessed Decades More

Happy Birthday, Chef Ashbell, with many more grand and glorious decades ahead. Like the Prophet Moses, you are among the chosen to continue to do ever greater works, for which I give thanks and praise. 

When I was at the lowest point in my life, after you scanned me, your smile lifted me and the meal that followed confirmed life is worth living, no matter what. If I don't like something, I change the menu next time I shop. 

Please know that the ripples of your kindness and brilliance flow far beyond the screen, the table, and the timeline. JOY!!! 

✨ Even When No One Sees It…

Ashbell Does Good / Great Anyway!!!

The balance of this post is put together with the help of ChatGPT, Google's AI. Chef Ashbell is an important element in our fight to deliver ourselves from evil and stupid.

🥂 Honoring Chef Ashbell on His Birthday

Today is the birthday of my dear friend, beyond genetics, my brother Chef Ashbell, a culinary revolutionary, international legend, and digital soul who’s connected kitchens and communities across time and continents. Since the last century as a chef on The Today Show, he’s been celebrating food not just as nourishment—but as culture, storytelling, and resilience. 

For those who don't know him, I asked ChatGPT to write a short bio on him.

Chef Ashbell McElveen — Culinary Storyteller and Legacy Weaver

Chef Ashbell McElveen was raised in Sumpter, South Carolina—where the foundation of “good food” was more than nourishment; it was a birthright. From those family-rooted traditions grew his lifelong mission: to preserve and elevate Southern foodways and Black culinary legacies.

At just 19, Chef Ashbell traveled to France for academic study—and stayed to train hands-on in Paris kitchens. Eager to immerse himself further in regional French cuisine, he returned after his undergraduate studies, spending his summers apprenticing, including at the famed Haynes Restaurant founded by Leroy Haynes theafricacenter.org.

In the 1990s, Chef Ashbell became a beloved fixture on WNBC’s Weekend Today Show, where he joyfully brought the vibrant, diverse culinary flavors of New York City’s immigrant and Black communities into living rooms across America—making cuisine, culture, and stories visible and delicious.

Driven by a passion for preservation and education, he founded the James Hemings Foundation (now Society) in 2014. Under his leadership, the organization studies, documents, and celebrates the profound contributions of African American cooks to America’s culinary identity.

Beyond the kitchen and scholarly efforts, Chef Ashbell is a multi-talented entrepreneur—founder of Ashbell’s Premium Meats & Seafood, an author, a documentary filmmaker (James Hemings: Ghost in America’s Kitchen), JBF‑nominated storyteller, and passionate advocate for culinary justice and memory. 

Gratitude to Ashbell's ancestors too.

📖 The James Hemings Legacy: Good Work, Delayed Recognition

James Hemings (who rumor has it may be a previous incarnation of Ashbell) was an enslaved chef trained in Paris in the late 1700s, brought French cooking techniques and iconic dishes like macaroni and cheese, crème brûlée, and French fries to American tables. And yet, for most of American history, his name was erased. 

Thanks to the profound dedication of Chef Ashbell, Hemings legacy is brought back to life. 

During the 2024 Olympics in Thailand, “Mac and Cheese” trended in the United States with 1,443 posts. A child in Bangkok ate a version of Hemings' creation, centuries and oceans away from its origin. 

Many good deeds take time to root and grow. Both men have, are building cyber bridges to unite in the styles of gratitude, grace, unity and celebration. DELICIOUS! 

🎥 Featured Videos

Here are powerful videos to deepen this celebration and meditation on legacy, joy, and perseverance:

1. 📺 James Hemings: Ghost in America’s Kitchen (PBS)
   Short documentary telling the story that history forgot.

2. 🇫🇷 The Untold Legacy of James Hemings – French Embassy Panel
   Culinary historians and chefs reclaim Hemings' legacy.

3. 🎬 Chef Ashbell Archives - Tell The Today Show - Post the Chef Ashbell tapes! 

4. ❤️ Amazon Edition: Ghost in America's Kitchen 

Thank You God For Chef Ashbell- JOY!

Harriet Tubman image, quote restored to National Parks Service page

Cyber Reading Birthday Card for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 2012

The directive from MLK Day 2012 is to be inspired.


Dr. King's Birthday card is being produced as a cyber reading of two books Computer Underground Railroad Enterprises helped publish. First is the dynamic Black history book that sets the record straight from Ancient Times to the 21st Century BLACK PEOPLE AND THEIR PLACE IN WORLD HISTORY by Dr. Leroy Vaughn, MD, MBA, Historian and, further keeping with the economic theme to the 2012 celebration HEMP FOR VICTORY: THE TRILLION DOLLAR CROP by USA Hemp Museum founder and curator Richard M. Davis. 


The readings are scheduled on line for January 13-17, 2012, 10a-2p & 4p-8p PT. The structure is two four hour readings a day, one of each book, approximately 50 pages per session over a 5 day period concluding both books on Dr. King's birthday, January 17, 2011.


The idea for a cyber birthday card from the Computer Underground Railroad to Dr. King is in response to his conversation with Nichelle Nichols resulting in MLK's endorsement of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1933630/why_martin_luther_king_jr_felt_gene.html 

pt2

"Actress Nichelle Nichols, who first fleshed out communications officer Lt. Uhura, is the fascinating link between the two men. As one of the first African  American actresses to be cast in a major role on an American television series, Nichols was uniquely qualified to try to bring attention to the plight of Blacks in America. However, as an actress employed by the studio, she had to abide by the scripts of the show. Eventually, Nichols came to feel her part as Uhura was little more than routine, even boring. She felt the writers were more or less ignoring her, and she decided to leave Star Trek.

Soon after her decision to quit Star Trek, a fateful meeting arose between the civil rights leader and the actress. This would not only make Nichols keep her job, but it gave Gene Roddenberry's science fiction space show one of the most historic and important positive endorsements in TV history. Martin Luther King Jr. told Nichelle Nichols that she couldn't quit the show, because her being there on the bridge as Uhura made an inspirational statement about  African Americans playing an important role in the future of exploration and society. Nichols rethought her decision and remained on the show." 

Like Dr. King said, Black people made it to the future too. And along with the rest of the human family, are reading and shaping the information age. This is an experience in how.

Check back with this blog for updated postings.