Join us for the first installment of our Simmer series in 2023! This chef pop-up series brings chefs, writers and educators together for interactive experiences that take us a bit deeper—to tell the stories behind the food and the people who grow, cook and share it.

For this event, we will explore an intertwining of Black women’s stories in food and art. The event will feature an adventurous multi-course meal from Keshia Hay, chef and owner of Sip N Bite, Lokelani Alabanza, owner of Saturated Ice Cream, and our own Chief Culinary Officer Bianca Morton, along with beverage pairings by Rhonda Cammon. Tickets are limited and available for $150 each. This is a 21 and up event.

Funds raised from this dinner help support The Nashville Food Project’s mission of bringing people together to grow, cook and share nourishing food, with the goals of cultivating community and alleviating hunger in our city. A portion of all ticket sales are tax deductible.

About Keshia Hay

Keshia Hay is the chef & owner of Sip N Bite || Private Chef LLC.

A native to Nashville, she studied fashion design and merchandising at O’More College and has been in the food and beverage industry for over 15 years. In early spring of 2014, Keshia began her private chef journey infusing her love of art and botanicals. From there, SIP & BITE was fashioned.

The SIP & BITE experience focuses on sensory and seasonality. It specializes in services ranging from intimate gatherings and “date night in” for 2 to whimsical dining pop-ups and collaborations. Her newest concept, “Sorcière de Cuisine,” is a small batch line of provisions that she’s designed revive the energy within the kitchen and home space, invoking pleasure within.

Chef Keshia’s culinary talents have been featured in various publications and podcasts including Cherry Bomb, BRIDE, & Nashville Voyager. She looks to continue sharing more of her cuisine local and globally one bite at a time.

About Lokelani Alabanza

Lokelani Alabanza’s professional culinary journey started in the United States, at the New England Culinary Institute. From there, her love of food has taken her around the world. From her first kitchen job in Denmark to her time working as a private chef in Japan, her travels have expanded her palate and refined her ability to create incredible food.

It was in Los Angeles, under the tutelage of renowned pastry chef Elizabeth Belkind, that Loke’s passion for pastry cooking was ignited. There, she worked with Dahlia Narvaez and Nancy Silverton at the now-shuttered James Beard award-winning restaurant Campanile, before landing in Nashville as Culinary Director for a local creamery. Lokelani’s time there grew her passion for ice cream, her breadth of experience (where she created over 300 flavors), and her love of integrating nostalgia into her cooking. Today, she creates beautiful flavors that spur the imagination while educating consumers about African American culinary history. She has been featured in Bon Appetit, Milk Street Radio, Wirecutter, Food 52, NPR, Oxford American, The Sewanee Review and CherryBombe Magazine.  

Lokelani is excited to share her view of the world through Saturated, her own brand of plant-based, hemp-derived CBD ice cream. Her first cookbook debuts this summer.

About Rhonda Cammon

With over 20 years of hospitality experience, Rhonda Cammon left a 20-year nursing career to  pursue her passion to create three distinctive companies all with a focus on food and beverage. Her concepts include Perfectly Cordial, a fruit-first, female-founded and female-sourced beverage company; Barseat, one of the first African American spirit education and consultant companies in Nashville; and the CAMP Conference, a conference focusing on the mobile beverage community. She was also the first female African-American board member of the US Bartenders’ Guild Nashville chapter and a founding board member of the Nashville Bartender Foundation. 

Cammon’s products and businesses (and Cammon herself!) have been featured in many publications including Liquor.com, Essence, Local Palate,Taste of the South, Women’s Health, Business Insider, Thirsty Magazine, Chilled Magazine, Imbibe and Cherry Bombe to name a few. Perfectly Cordial has been praised and consumed by celebrities like Mickey Guyton, Brett Eldrige, and Cardi B. She continues to be a loud supporter and champion for all women in the beverage industry. She is currently on tour with Buy From A Black Woman, sponsored by H&M.

About Bianca Morton

A Nashville native, Chef Bianca Morton serves as Chief Culinary Officer at The Nashville Food Project, where she has spent the last five years directing its two commercial kitchens. After attending culinary school at the Art Institute of Atlanta, she began a 22-year career dedicated to connecting with people across Nashville and Atlanta through food, including a multi-year stint teaching culinary arts in Metro Nashville Public Schools.

Chef Bianca is passionate about serving vulnerable Nashville communities through providing nutritious, made-from-scratch meals that promote health and community. Along with overseeing the kitchens, she currently hosts educational workshops for schools, community groups, and other organizations about economically producing healthy meals. In 2021, she was recognized for her dedication to serving the community through cooking and food with a Phila Award in the Serving Spoon category.