June 17, 2025
BEM will open up this fall and solely characteristic Black-authored works with heavy meals themes.
Two sisters will quickly open a bookstore cafe in Brooklyn’s Mattress-Stuy neighborhood. Their foremost dish? A set 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 by means of 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’d like this,’” Danielle advised Eater.
BEM’s Macon Avenue location will characteristic 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 e-book will both give attention to cultural recipes or deep connections to the Black culinary expertise.
The sisters first developed the thought in 2019 by means of 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 world house.
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 a substitute. Nonetheless, the enterprise homeowners nonetheless really feel optimistic about BEM’s future in Mattress-Stuy.
“There’s simply a lot vitality round tales,” added Danielle. “We discuss rather a lot about it being a spot for discovery.”
They hope to grow to be a mainstay within the neighborhood, providing multiple’s typical bookstore cafe by means of its dedication to Black works. Whether or not as a analysis floor for students or an creator’s cease on a e-book tour, BEM is able to spearhead the rise of Black meals bookstores.
Within the meantime, they may collaborate with Nicole Taylor, creator of Watermelon & Pink Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations, for a Juneteenth occasion that soaks up the tradition.
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