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What the Tongue Remembers: An Invitation Beyond Language
“It is not only empowering to represent heritage and identity through food—it has the power to heal our generational trauma…”
In collaboration with Artspace NC:
What the Tongue Remembers is a sensory dining experience rooted in the elemental wisdom of cultural memory, where scent, sound, and story move alongside each course.
Guided by recent Chopped winner and 2023 North Carolina Chef of the Year Adé Carrena, this evening draws inspiration from the flavors and foodways of West Africa, the American South, Haiti, and Brazil. Each bite carries lineage. Each pour, a reflection. Each moment, a soft invitation to feel what lives beyond language.
Woven with quiet rituals and glimpses of Chef Adé’s film, Bite of Bénin, the night honors what was carried, what was created, and what continues.
Come curious. Come open. Let the tongue lead you home.
About Chef Adé:
Adé Carrena is an award-winning intuitive chef, filmmaker, and storyteller redefining the future of food through the lens of West African traditions and Southern roots. She is the founder of iLéWA Foods, a spice company creating economic opportunities for women farmers in Bénin and Ghana.
Named 2023 North Carolina Chef of the Year and recently crowned a Food Network Chopped Champion, Adé is known for her immersive dining experiences that nourish, reclaim, and celebrate diasporic identity. Her acclaimed documentary Bite of Bénin has earned multiple awards for its bold exploration of food, memory, and belonging. Whether in the kitchen or behind the camera, Adé’s work honors ancestry, uplifts community, and feeds liberation.
Chef Adé's Journey through Bite of Bénin
Adopted at the age of ten from her homeland of Bénin, West Africa, and raised in Connecticut, Chef Adé Carrena travels back home on a journey to reclaim her identity through food and to represent what was taken from her across the Diaspora. But how does one define home?
There lies in everyone a deeply rooted connection to home, interwoven into the fabric of our being and impossible to sever. For Chef Adé, home is a place she is continually drawn toward. In this beautiful, and at times painful, story, Adé journeys back to her roots to understand her African heritage and reclaim her identity through food and the Béninese women who hold deep significance in her life.
She discovers that food is not solely about sustenance; it is intrinsically tied to our identity. It represents culture, history, and, most importantly, nourishes the soul. Representing heritage and identity through food is not only empowering—it holds the transformative power to heal generational trauma.
Shared Experiences: Words From Our Guests
Tonight’s experience was wonderful. I love the poetry and how it relates to mother earth, American culture: our African heritage. This experience made me want to discover more about myself, heritage, food and how it brings us all together.
Chef Ade’s story was so moving yet inspiring. I love how food has helped her heal and grow. The meal was an amazing experience. The flavors were exciting yet familiar. I can’t wait to explore more of her culinary delight.
This experience reminded me how much I love being a multicultural black girl – how much I love food! This was beautiful and I can’t wait for the next one!!! I am reclaiming adventure and newness!
Tonight is a reminder that a journey is ongoing, worth the heat, exhaustion and uncertainty.
The worst pain I could ever feel, has already happened. I may have openness in my wounds to breathe, Thank you Adé.
Adé — what an incredibly thoughtful, moving, rapturous, and delicious experience. Really it felt like an honor to be there, to see you express yourself, to be so vulnerable, to see you lead the kitchen, to see the ties between your words and the plate. What you are doing is truly unique in SO many ways.
Dietary Information
The menu is carefully crafted to preserve the authenticity of its recipes and the culinary traditions from which they originate. As such, this dinner will not accommodate substitutions.
*Please note that some dishes may contain peanuts.
About Artspace NC:
Artspace, your host for this event, is a non-profit visual arts center located in Downtown Raleigh. Visit Artspace for a multitude of exhibitions featuring national and local artists and to enjoy a community of more than 35 artists working in studio, artists in residence, and to find other art classes for all ages and abilities.
“It is not only empowering to represent heritage and identity through food—it has the power to heal our generational trauma…”
In collaboration with Artspace NC:
What the Tongue Remembers is a sensory dining experience rooted in the elemental wisdom of cultural memory, where scent, sound, and story move alongside each course.
Guided by recent Chopped winner and 2023 North Carolina Chef of the Year Adé Carrena, this evening draws inspiration from the flavors and foodways of West Africa, the American South, Haiti, and Brazil. Each bite carries lineage. Each pour, a reflection. Each moment, a soft invitation to feel what lives beyond language.
Woven with quiet rituals and glimpses of Chef Adé’s film, Bite of Bénin, the night honors what was carried, what was created, and what continues.
Come curious. Come open. Let the tongue lead you home.
About Chef Adé:
Adé Carrena is an award-winning intuitive chef, filmmaker, and storyteller redefining the future of food through the lens of West African traditions and Southern roots. She is the founder of iLéWA Foods, a spice company creating economic opportunities for women farmers in Bénin and Ghana.
Named 2023 North Carolina Chef of the Year and recently crowned a Food Network Chopped Champion, Adé is known for her immersive dining experiences that nourish, reclaim, and celebrate diasporic identity. Her acclaimed documentary Bite of Bénin has earned multiple awards for its bold exploration of food, memory, and belonging. Whether in the kitchen or behind the camera, Adé’s work honors ancestry, uplifts community, and feeds liberation.
Chef Adé's Journey through Bite of Bénin
Adopted at the age of ten from her homeland of Bénin, West Africa, and raised in Connecticut, Chef Adé Carrena travels back home on a journey to reclaim her identity through food and to represent what was taken from her across the Diaspora. But how does one define home?
There lies in everyone a deeply rooted connection to home, interwoven into the fabric of our being and impossible to sever. For Chef Adé, home is a place she is continually drawn toward. In this beautiful, and at times painful, story, Adé journeys back to her roots to understand her African heritage and reclaim her identity through food and the Béninese women who hold deep significance in her life.
She discovers that food is not solely about sustenance; it is intrinsically tied to our identity. It represents culture, history, and, most importantly, nourishes the soul. Representing heritage and identity through food is not only empowering—it holds the transformative power to heal generational trauma.
Shared Experiences: Words From Our Guests
Tonight’s experience was wonderful. I love the poetry and how it relates to mother earth, American culture: our African heritage. This experience made me want to discover more about myself, heritage, food and how it brings us all together.
Chef Ade’s story was so moving yet inspiring. I love how food has helped her heal and grow. The meal was an amazing experience. The flavors were exciting yet familiar. I can’t wait to explore more of her culinary delight.
This experience reminded me how much I love being a multicultural black girl – how much I love food! This was beautiful and I can’t wait for the next one!!! I am reclaiming adventure and newness!
Tonight is a reminder that a journey is ongoing, worth the heat, exhaustion and uncertainty.
The worst pain I could ever feel, has already happened. I may have openness in my wounds to breathe, Thank you Adé.
Adé — what an incredibly thoughtful, moving, rapturous, and delicious experience. Really it felt like an honor to be there, to see you express yourself, to be so vulnerable, to see you lead the kitchen, to see the ties between your words and the plate. What you are doing is truly unique in SO many ways.
Dietary Information
The menu is carefully crafted to preserve the authenticity of its recipes and the culinary traditions from which they originate. As such, this dinner will not accommodate substitutions.
*Please note that some dishes may contain peanuts.
About Artspace NC:
Artspace, your host for this event, is a non-profit visual arts center located in Downtown Raleigh. Visit Artspace for a multitude of exhibitions featuring national and local artists and to enjoy a community of more than 35 artists working in studio, artists in residence, and to find other art classes for all ages and abilities.
Media Consent Statement
Please Note: This event will be filmed and/or photographed. By purchasing a ticket and attending, you consent to being filmed or photographed and grant the event organizers full rights to use the resulting images and video for promotional and archival purposes.
Photos by Stacey Sprenz unless otherwise credited
