by Nahlah Abdur-Rahman
June 17, 2025
BEM will open up this fall and solely function Black-authored works with heavy meals themes.
Two sisters will quickly open a bookstore cafe in Brooklyn’s Mattress-Stuy neighborhood. Their fundamental dish? A group of meals books that highlights the Black Diaspora’s culinary fashion.
As they await the autumn debut of their bodily retailer, Gabrielle and Danielle Davenport launched BEM in 2021. The sibling entrepreneurs began the model on-line, constructing an in-person clientele via pop-ups. Now, they’ve secured a location, amplifying this traditionally Black neighborhood with a curation of books that symbolize them.
“Individuals have advised us very explicitly, ‘We want this,’” Danielle advised Eater.
BEM’s Macon Road location will function solely Black authors and works that tie into its food-focused theme. From The Edna Lewis Cookbook to Crystal Wilkinson’s Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts and even Toni Morrison’s Beloved, every guide will both deal with cultural recipes or deep connections to the Black culinary expertise.
The sisters first developed the concept in 2019 via Brooklyn Public Library’s PowerUP program. They sought to reply the long-awaited prayer for Black meals bookstores, particularly within the culturally wealthy neighborhood of Mattress-Stuy. There, Black individuals of many backgrounds, from the Caribbean and Africa to the American South, name the realm residence.
This bookstore for culinary experience and dialog was additionally fueled by communal help. A Kickstarter marketing campaign launched in 2024 boosted the ladies’s monetary backing to $75,000. They don’t personal their precise place but, with the vendor providing a lease as an alternative. Nevertheless, the enterprise house owners nonetheless really feel optimistic about BEM’s future in Mattress-Stuy.
“There’s simply a lot vitality round tales,” added Danielle. “We speak quite a bit about it being a spot for discovery.”
They hope to turn into a mainstay within the neighborhood, providing a couple of’s typical bookstore cafe via its dedication to Black works. Whether or not as a analysis floor for students or an writer’s cease on a guide tour, BEM is able to spearhead the rise of Black meals bookstores.
Within the meantime, they are going to collaborate with Nicole Taylor, writer of Watermelon & Purple Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations, for a Juneteenth occasion that soaks up the tradition.
RELATED CONTENT: Pasadena Bookstore Named After Octavia Butler Turns into Protected Haven For LA Fireplace Victims
