02/22/22 | Week 4 | 5 Black Caterers Who Were Influential Catering and Events Industry

Emiline Jones (1821-1894)
Long Branch, NJ

Born, as a slave in 1821, Emiline Jones became a restaurateur as well as consulted as Executive Chef for 3 Presidents. Emeline created dishes that were “over the top and fancy”. Her

creations were far ahead of their time, she showed that no matter where you come from your gifts and your dreams can change lives and transcend to greater horizons. Emeline truly believed that food was the one thing that connects us all. By the 1880s, she had settled in Manhattan, where she built up a formidable catering business.

Emeline Jones is credited, by some, as the inventor of the potato chip as we know it today. Her story is truly one of the American dream. It is said that Presidents Arthur and Cleveland, both of New York, were so fond of her cooking that they each had offered her a big salary to come to Washington and be the White House chef, but she turned down their offers.

She met John Chamberlin, a former riverboat gambler from Mississippi who ran a wildly popular (and politically connected) restaurant in DC, and later opened a grand establishment in New York and at Old Point Comfort in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Emeline ran every one of his kitchens, and when she died, Chamberlin credited her cooking as the driving force of his success. In her obituary it listed a number of prominent New York chefs who had trained under her.

Rod Westmaas, CPCE Emeritus chose these 5 Black Caterers because he decided to look first at the influences of 18/19th century Black Caterers in segments. These 5 caterers are located on the east coast of the U.S. These were simply the five that stood out in his research that made a significant difference to there city/state within the fledging catering world. He is currently looking into other parts of the US also where Black caterers have also shone.