The Creole Food Festival Unifies Through Culture and Taste

Six years ago in New York City, Fabrice Armand and his partner, Elkhair Balla, launched the Creole Food Festival to spotlight diverse Creole food fusions. “We focus exclusively on restaurants, chefs, spirits and cocktails,” Armand says.

“You won’t find art or paintings for sale. Our festival celebrates chefs of color, providing a platform for them to showcase their creativity and talent, putting culinary artistry at the forefront.”

The annual Creole Food Festival has since expanded to Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans and Washington, D.C., becoming a resounding success.

What is Creole Food

For many Americans, Creole food is synonymous with New Orleans and Haitian cuisine. However, it extends far beyond that. “Creole food is found in Senegal, Mali, Cote D’Ivoire, Madagascar and Macau,” Armand says.

“There are many variations. In Honduras, it’s called Garifuna; Antigua, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and Cuba each have their versions. These are just different translations and interpretations of Creole cuisine. The Creole Food Festival aims to educate people that Creole is everywhere.”

Armand and his partner created the Creole Food Festival to highlight the similarities and different interpretations of Creole across various cultures.

“We often focus on our differences, but the Creole festival aims to unite people and show our commonalities. Whether it’s jollof rice, a ‘pelau’ from Trinidad, a ‘du riz colle’ in Haiti, a ‘thieboudienne’ in Senegal, a ‘jagacida’ in Cape Verde and an ‘arroz con pollo’ in Puerto Rico, these dishes are essentially the same, just called different names and executed slightly differently across cultures.”

Inspiration for the Creole Food Festival

Armand was born and raised in Haiti and attended boarding school before moving to the United States at 14. He notes that Haitian culture traditionally recognizes only a few acceptable professional careers.

“It’s like a doctor, lawyer or engineer. I was a musician then,” he says. “So my mom was like, ‘Let me yank him out of the country so that he’s not automatically a vagabond.’”

After boarding school, Armand attended Cardozo High School, then pursued legal studies at St. John’s University in New York and earned a master’s in international relations, also from St. John’s University.

During his undergraduate studies, he began bartending under Andrew Carmellini. “That set the path for me in terms of culinary and the stuff I was doing,” he says.

Armand found work as the vice president of business development for Caribbean Magazine and befriended others in the industry, including his future business partner. “So I started getting more in the culinary world through that. Then, I worked with the Caribbean Tourism Authority. We worked on multiple projects where we were taking people to Barbados for their Barbados Food Festival.  After that, I became the United States representative for the Haiti Food and Spirits Festival, where the idea of the Creole festival came from.”

Armand says it took two years for doors to open once he and Balla decided to do the Creole Food Festival. “What we thought we were going to create and what we created are two different things.”

What to Expect at the Creole Food Festival

The Creole Food Festival stands out by showcasing award-winning and celebrity chefs of color, a rarity among food festivals. “We feature about 15 chefs and restaurants,” Armand says.

“With a general admission ticket, you get two tastings: two plates and one sponsored drink from El Jimador Tequila and Uncle Nearest Whiskey. VIP ticket holders enjoy five tastings and access to our one hour sponsored open bar. It’s like Taste of Chicago, but even higher end. Additional tickets can be purchased for more tastings.”

While the festival focuses on food and drinks, there is plenty of music. “We play a variety of music genres, including Afrobeats, Afro-French, salsa, merengue, bachata, kizomba, and Cuban,” Armand says.

Armand has curated an impressive lineup of culinary talent for the New York festival stop. “We have Chef NduvoAkim Abdus-Salaam , a Jamaican executive chef of Nigerian heritage at 10 Cubed, the Central Park Tower world’s highest private residential club. We also have Chef Bengali Lashawn Cisse from Côte d’Ivoire, the executive chef at Tao Hospitality and Chef Todd Richards, one of the godfathers of soul food.”

Armand also ensures that emerging chefs have a chance to shine. “For the past three years, I’ve been searching for a Garifuna chef to represent the Garifuna, Honduras, and Belize cultures. We finally got Isha Gutierrez-Sumner , the first chef from Honduras to write a book about the delineation of Garifuna food and culture.”

In between Creole Food Festival events, Armand has a marketing, fundraising, and business consulting company, Trib, LLC, so he understands the financial strain that can put on the festival’s chefs.

Because of this, Armand and his partner cover flights and hotels to ensure an even playing field and provide each chef with an equal food budget, honorarium, and supplies.

“This way, the only thing that separates the chefs is their culinary talent. That’s important to us. Many chefs participate in CFF for the opportunities it offers. They go above and beyond, but like my partner and me, they’re not sponsored.”

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Forging Their Own Way

“Yes, we are not sponsored, and we do not have financial backing,” Armand says. “We’ve pitched to numerous companies and ad agencies, but we often find ourselves caught between a rock and a hard place. This is because we’re not a massive food festival with 2,000 attendees daily. Our smaller festival draws about 500-700 people, but we focus on quality over quantity. Our goal is to provide an exceptional culinary experience.”

Armand and Balla have financed the Creole Food Festival through their own savings and by reinvesting returns from each festival.

“It’s about doing the work and believing in the longevity of something worthwhile. We are committed because we believe in the impact of our work—how it can expand and change culture, create identity, and promote inclusion. Establishing a West Coast CFF is a bigger challenge,” Armand notes.

“We’ve been asked to come to the West Coast and Houston, but without sponsorship and backing, it’s difficult. Despite our success, brands are hesitant to take chances with us. They often give excuses, but we see some investing in other festivals not run by people of color.”

Investing in the Future

“We’re launching a culinary scholarship program to support the next generation of chefs and people interested in the culinary arts. Our festivals celebrate people of color, and we believe it’s essential to help them thrive. This initiative aligns with our narrative and mission. We will begin this campaign soon.”

See this year’s full chef lineup and get your tickets to the Creole Food Festival here. Check out past events and featured Chefs on in the event’s Instagram page .

This story originally appeared in Cuisine Noir Magazine