There’s a reason why most of us feel like we can cook.

It is our cultural heritage.

Professor Juliet Walker of the University of Texas quotes W.E.B. DuBois in her history of black business in America that Robert Bogle in Philadelphia professionalized the industry in the 19th century and is recognized as “the originator of catering.”

Walker states, “Each major urban center had its prominent black caterer.”

So one should not be surprised to see the success of Jesso’s in Oakland, which began in a humble storefront on Telegraph Ave and has now moved to a large space in Old Oakland immediately adjacent to the convention center.

In Jack London Square, one can get ribs the fast way from Everett and Jones and Broadway and Second Street

Geoffrey’s Planet Soule at 14th and Franklin exhibits the kind of fine dining that was exemplified by some of the historic pre-Civil War black caterers and restaurateurs.

T.J. Rodgers’ The Gingerbread House is another Oakland icon.  It has been constructed in the image of a gingerbread house where she and her family bring out the best in Cajun cuisine. I particularly love the pralines and her spicy cornbread.

Blacks opened the hospitality industry not only on the East Coast, but also on the West Coast.  William Alexander Leidesdorff, pictured above, began the first hotel and general store in San Francisco in the 1840s.  Mary Ellen Pleasant became the richest woman in America by providing food and lodging to the gold miners during the Gold Rush.