Philadelphia’s first Black population was largely composed of enslaved individuals, but by 1780, the city had become a well-known hub for abolitionism and thriving Free Black communities. Thanks to prominent Black business owners like James Forten, and activists like Richard Allen, founder of Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Absolom Jones, who along with Allen founded the Free African Society, in the 18^th Century, Philadelphia cemented itself as a center for Black life. The city has played a central role in many of the major events of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries in America’s Black Histories. Still, one story you might not be as familiar with is the role that Black Philadelphians played in the invention of the catering industry and in the invention of the concept of catering itself. As early as 1778, a Black chef named Caesar Cranshall became the first known caterer in America, and potentially the first person to create the concept, when he catered a ball in honor of General William Howe, (or rather, in honor of him leaving Philadelphia, the city he’d been successful at capturing for the British forces during the American Revolution.) 

The Legacy of Black Caterers and Restaurateurs

By the early 1800s, Philadelphia had become a hub for Black caterers who both introduced and revolutionized the concept, transforming serving food into the production of serving and dining we still experience at contemporary catered events. Robert “Major” Bogle followed in Cranshall’s footsteps, creating a catering company serving Philadelphia’s White elites, and as the Philadelphia Inquirer remarked in 1884, remembering his impact on the city after his passing, “No party, no marriage, no christening, no funeral was complete without the presence of this genius.” After Bogle died, Peter Augustine, a Haitian immigrant, bought Bogle’s business in 1818, and elevated it even further, specializing in catering that included trained waitstaff, fine China and silverware, tables, chairs, and even table linens, all the hallmarks of modern catering we see today. 

Thomas Dorsey, another Black caterer, escaped enslavement twice, once in Mississippi and then, having been recaptured and brought to a plantation in Maryland, once through friends and supporters in Philadelphia who bought him out of enslavement. Dorsey made his name as a prominent Black caterer, finding, like his fellow Black caterers Henry Jones and Henry Minton, that catering, a service job, was one of the few places of employment open to Black people. But while the work might have looked like serving, it was Dorsey and his fellow caterers who made their fortunes, expanding their work out to restaurants and charging as much as 50 dollars a plate, an astronomical amount in the 1800s. Catering allowed these chef-entrepreneurs to open restaurants, creating communities of Black chefs that have been pivotal to the development of the American food scene. The success and wealth of Philadelphia’s Black caterers inspired many other Black entrepreneurs across the country, especially along the East Coast. 

Honoring Black Culinary History

There are infinite ways to honor and celebrate Black Americans during Black History Month and throughout the year. One way to do it is to uncover and salute the stories we don’t know, like the work of prominent 20th-century Black Caterer P. Albert Dutrieuille, whose family uncovered their own catering past when looking through their West Philadelphia home, which served as the company’s headquarters from 1917 to 1967. Paintings like John Lewis Krimmel’s “Pepper Pot: A Scene in the Philadelphia Market” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art give us hints at the importance and prominence of Black culinary creators in our history.  Books like High on the Hog by Jessica B. Harris, which has also been made into a Netflix Series, remind us that American food is Black food, that Black chefs established and built what we think of as American food but rarely get the credit, or the financial recompense, for it. Both Hercules Posey, George Washington’s chef, well documented by Philadelphia Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan. and James Hemmings, Thomas Jefferson’s chef, who brought macaroni and cheese to our shores, cooked elaborate and innovative meals for their enslavers and our founding fathers in Philadelphia. 

Supporting Black Excellence in Philadelphia

Black makers, cooks and caterers then and now are the foundation of our culinary culture as a nation, and learning about them is just one way you can engage with Black History in Philadelphia. Celebrate both our history and our contemporary Black chefs by buying cookbooks and food histories like High on the Hog or The Jemima Code by Toni Tipton-Martin from Black-owned bookstores like Harriet’s Bookstore, Hakim’s Bookstore and Gift Shop, or Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee and Books. Dine on teff-coated fried chicken at Doro Bet, scarf down pizza and wings at Down North Pizza, eat accompanied by jazz at South Jazz Kitchen, and treat yourself to herbal teas at Akwaaba Tea Salon or Dope Botanicals. We live in, benefit from, and build our lives on top of Philadelphia’s Black history and often allow it to go unacknowledged. From the Underground Railroad to Philly’s legendary jazz musicians, we hope you’ll take the time to celebrate the many Black Philadelphians, and Americans, who have made our city and country what it is today by exploring the lives and stories of people omitted from the history books. There are so many amazing ways to do that, but none as delicious as exploring the past, and present, of Philadelphia’s Black culinary footprint.