OUR WHY

Rebecca Dirden Swindle, Chef

Annie Rebecca Stubbs Dirden

Patra Lee Shanklin Jones

IT’S IN THE DNA

From the moment that my great-grandmother, Patra Lee Jones could stand on the bottom of an upturned bucket so that she could reach the surface of the kitchen table, she cooked. Patra Lee learned to cook the same way her mother, Julia Ann Shanklin Jones, learned….by doing, by tasting, by feeling, by hearing, and by remembering. Back then, recipes and how to prepare them were never written down for obvious reasons. To the contrary, recipes and food rituals were spoken and taught. Patra Lee learned to cook in the same way her mother learned…by doing, by tasting, by feeling, by hearing and by remembering. By the age of 16 years old, Patra Lee bore two daughters, Annie Rebecca, and Jesse Mary. Annie, like her foremothers managed the kitchens and homes of white families on her journey during the Great Migration from Alabama to the mountains of Appalachia, home of the Cherokee, Iroquois, Manahoac, Meherrin, Monacan, Nottaway, Occaneechi, Saponi and Shawnee and large numbers of immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Italy, Greece, and Poland. It was in this this mountain melting pot of native people and immigrants where Annie Rebecca deepened her skills and knowledge of diverse cooking traditions and global cuisines. Food was shared and sampled, kitchen to kitchen. And, Annie would not only master their recipes, she would make them better. That was her gift.

It was Annie Rebecca, for whom I am named, who taught me and all of her children and grands, how to cook. As a Grandma's Girl, I was in every kitchen that she graced chopping, peeling, dicing, julienning and cleaning at first. When she felt that I was ready, she taught me mixing, braising, frying, rolling and baking. She passed along to me good cookery skills, masterful presentation, an understanding of flavor and the intangible gift how to taste food and ingredients.

My story, like those who came before me, is one of perseverance, dedication to excellence and necessity. I started PLK1848 Ice Cream to build a legacy for my family and to reclaim the time and culinary genius of those who came before me, particularly the contributors to the craft of ice cream making. I had two very simple but ambitious goals: to create products that celebrated the diaspora and to tell stories. I didn't need to look far for the inspiration. James Hemmings, the person making French-style vanilla ice cream in the kitchen at Monticello, Sallie Shadd who is credited for creating strawberry ice cream, Augustus Jackson, the White House chef who invented the practice of adding rock salt to the ice that he used to make his ice cream, which made the mixture freeze more quickly, Alfred Cralle the inventor of the ice cream scoop, and Mexico born Rafael Malfavón Andrade, inventor of the paleta, these people are my why and my greatest inspiration.

WHY 1848?

The year 1848 marks the year of independence for Edmond Albius, who as a 12-year-old slave on the island of Bourbon (modern-day Réunion) invented a method to hand pollinate vanilla orchids. Prior to Edmond’s discovery, the only people who were able to cultivate it successfully were the natives of South and Central America and the Caribbean, the Totonacs.

The uprooting of the vanilla orchid from its native land is akin to and consistent with the global slave trade. History tells us that Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez “discovered” vanilla in Mexico and brought it to Spain; however, his homeland lacked the stingless Melipone bee which was the plant’s chief pollinator. This insect was native to Mexico. Almost three hundred years after vanilla was first “discovered,” the French and Dutch colonists got ahold of the orchid; however, they too lacked the ability to grow and pollinate it with any degree of success.

In the 1820s, French colonialists brought the orchids to their colonies with the belief that they’d be able to grow and pollinate the plant in climate-friendly, tropical regions. But the vines remained sterile because again, there was no native insect that would pollinate them. Until 1841.

Edmond figured out how to hand pollinate the vanilla blooms using a stick and his thumb. His intellect and curiosity had achieved something that so many had failed to do before him. His method completely transformed the cultivation of vanilla. Edmond was trotted about by his masters to teach other slaves held on other plantations his techniques. Vanilla plantations and production began to sprout up all across the globe, from Madagascar to Uganda, from India to Indonesia.

Since hand pollination of the vanilla orchid was discovered by a black, slave child, the method and its creator were immediately contested. The stories abound. One of which is how botanist Jean-MichelClaude Richard claimed to have taught the technique to Edmond three to four years prior to his discovery. This tale went on through the beginning of the 20th century when some in the French press made the claim that such a discovery could not possibly be made by a Black man, that Edmond was in fact white.

When the French abolished slavery in 1848, Edmond received his manumission; but, he never did receive any financial benefit from his discovery. Edmond enabled many French colonialists to make a fortune; however, he died penniless in 1880. We honor Edmond for his ingenuity, brilliance and contributions to the global vanilla economy.