In conjunction with After the Island: Ornament and Ceramic Practice in the Jamaican Diaspora, this special First Thursday program brings together chef and cocktail creator Nelson German, James Beard Award–winning cookbook writer and culinary anthropologist Andréa Lawson Gray, in conversation moderated by Jamaican-born chef, restaurateur, and community leader Nigel Jones.

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Inspired by the exhibition’s exploration of diaspora and reinvention, the conversation turns to food and drink as living forms through which memory, identity, and cultural continuity are continually remade. Across ceramics, food, and drink, the program considers how creative practices preserve lineage while embracing reinvention. These themes open onto broader questions: How is culture carried across time and distance? How do memory, migration, and rupture generate new forms of expression? What survives displacement, and what must be reinvented?

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Drawing from the forthcoming book Caribbean Cocktails: Drinks & Bites from the Afro-Latino Diaspora, the conversation explores how ingredients such as rum, sugarcane, citrus, and botanicals hold histories of trade, labor, resistance, and exchange. German and Lawson Gray consider the Caribbean not as a fixed geography, but as a site of circulation where African, Indigenous, and European influences collided to produce new aesthetic and culinary languages. Drinks and bites from Caribbean Cocktails will follow the conversation.

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About the Book

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Sip and savor the bold flavors and vibrant culture of the Afro-Latino diaspora with over 40 drink recipes and 20 food recipes from Top Chef alum and acclaimed chef-restaurateur Nelson German, the culinary visionary behind Meski, Sobre Mesa, and alaMar Kitchen and Bar.

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For Afro-Dominican chef Nelson German, drinks and food are about connection—whether it's sharing stories over cocktails on a stoop in Washington Heights or gathering with friends under the warm, buzzy lights of his restaurants. In Caribbean Cocktails, he brings the rich culinary history of the Afro-Latino diaspora straight to your home bar and kitchen, blending tradition, personal storytelling, and modern mixology.

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About the Speakers

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Nelson German is the Dominican American chef-owner behind Oakland's alaMar Kitchen & Bar, the Afro-Latin cocktail lounge Sobre Mesa, and Meski, a soulful Afro-Latin brunch and dinner destination in San Francisco. A Top Chef Season 18 contestant and one of Plate’s “2020 Chefs to Watch,” Nelson's unorthodox culinary style blends his Dominican heritage, African roots, and Mediterranean and Asian influences with a deep love of local, sustainable California ingredients. His work has been featured in the New York Times, SF Chronicle, Ebony, Forbes, KQED, KRON, and more.

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Andréa Lawson Gray is a chef, writer, and James Beard Award–winning cookbook author known for bringing the flavors, history, and energy of Latin America and the Caribbean to contemporary audiences. With more than two decades of experience in professional kitchens, she collaborates closely with chefs to translate culinary tradition into bold, accessible food and drink.

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She is the co-author of the award-winning Convivir: Modern Mexican Cooking in California’s Wine Country (Abrams, 2025) and Celebraciones Mexicanas: History, Traditions, and Recipes (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013), which is held in more than 350 libraries, including Harvard and Cambridge.

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Nigel Jones is a chef, restaurateur and entrepreneur committed to sharing the rich foods of his native Jamaica and the African diaspora, while creating sustainable opportunities for people of color. Jones was born in Kingston, Jamaica and migrated to the United States when he was 15 years old. His restaurants in Oakland, Kingston 11 Cuisine and Calabash are known for their high quality Jamaican cuisine and as gathering spaces for the community.

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