The Cookout Anthology

How does one begin to source the origin of The Cookout?

Looking for the origins of the practice—poring through history books, archaeological articles, and religious texts—it seemed that the ancients themselves considered the tradition ancient, even in their time. Could it be that since the beginning of humanity, in the cradle of the world, where two or more were gathered in the name of food, medicine, love, and community, there one may have found The Cookout?

Across the African Diaspora, with the fluctuations of ancestral knowledge and cultural roots, in wealth and happiness, in sickness and danger, in celebration and faith and fierce resistance, in every nook and cranny of the world, "The Cookout" calls to something in our blood that unites us in love and community. And as the world began to digitize, this impulse found a foothold in the social media sphere, in the new and mischievous colloquial use of "The Cookout" as well as in innovations such as pandemic-style remote feasts with family and friends. As a force, "The Cookout" is unstoppable! So we decided to see just how far it can go.

Can it reach the depths of the ocean? Can we put picnic tables in the stars? Gather round the grill in another dimension? Source our seasonings in the furthest realms of our imaginations?

Let's see, shall we?

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