October 10, 2025
Black Feast Week includes more than a dozen restaurants offering special pricing, pop-ups, and giveaways.
Black Feast Week is back in Kansas City, Missouri, to celebrate Black culinary creativity and advance community revitalization efforts from Oct. 6 to Oct. 12.
The Kansas City Defender newsroom created the event to help combat food insecurity and highlight local small businesses.
The People’s Buyout kickoff event fed 150 single Black mothers free meals at District Fish & Pasta. Joshua “JT” Taylor, senior content producer and chief administrative officer at The Kansas City Defender, spoke to KCUR about the event’s goals.
“We’ve always tried to prioritize helping people who are most marginalized,” said Taylor. “And the Black woman is probably the most marginalized among us. We try to look out for our people.”
Black Feast Week includes more than a dozen restaurants offering special pricing, pop-ups, giveaways, and social media events. Participating businesses this year include Orange by Devoured, District Biskuits, and Vine Street Brewing.
The initiative began in response to widespread restaurant closures in Kansas City’s Black business community, prompting calls for interventions.
“We saw a need to bring more marketing to Black entrepreneurs and restaurant owners,” Taylor said. “Some of those areas don’t offer the same type of revenue flow.”
This year’s programming is designed to be a culinary showcase and a branding platform. Organizers emphasized that Feast Week is part of broader mutual aid and advocacy work. The Defender newsroom hosts regular giveaways, clothing drives, and community arts events.
“The point is getting people to actually spend money with Black-owned businesses and encourage Black economic growth as a whole,” Taylor said.
This year’s Feast Week is expected to further spotlight economic disparities in Kansas City and strengthen ties between residents and Black restaurateurs, creating both immediate support and building momentum for long-term investment in the local culinary ecosystem.
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