Each weekend this month, you can sign up to learn how to cook a meal from the African diaspora : green plantain porridge, classic mac and cheese, curried chicken and shrimp creole.

These cooking classes, led by local chefs and held at Clemmons Family Farm in Charlotte, are part of a larger, new effort: the African Diaspora Foodways Institute of Vermont.

It’s a partnership between the African American-owned historic farm and the University of Vermont . It aims to strengthen Vermont’s African diaspora restaurants and catering businesses, and to diversify food tourism here.

The institute is currently in a one-year pilot phase funded by two grants: $250,000 from the Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships and $25,000 from the Agency of Agriculture’s Working Lands Enterprise Initiativ

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