Grantee | L+P Foundation (Awarded in January 2025)
Project | Gastrodiplomacy for the People
From Media to the Menu: A Storytelling Shift
Lisa Katayama (USJLP 2015, 2018) has always been about justice. Whether through words, community work, or now food, she’s searched for ways to connect people across experiences and borders. Her current project with her husband, chef Pierre Thiam – a series of culinary pop-ups, a cookbook, and educational programming – might seem like a departure from her past life in media and human rights. But in her eyes, it’s all part of the same work: telling stories that matter, and making space for voices and traditions that often go unheard.
Recipes That Speak: Blending Culture and Justice
Lisa and Pierre are collaborators in the kitchen and beyond. Together, they are exploring how African American and Japanese food cultures intersect, diverge, and transform when placed in conversation with one another. Their co-authored cookbook, published in 2023, blends West African flavors, African American soul food, and Japanese seasonal aesthetics. But the project is more than recipes. It’s a quiet act of cultural diplomacy, carried out one dish at a time.
Pierre brings a culinary sensibility rooted in West African traditions and nutritional consciousness. Lisa draws from her background in storytelling, her global perspective, and a deep belief in food as a medium for justice. “I worked at the MIT Media Lab,” she explained, “working with community leaders and connecting them with researchers from Nairobi, Kenya, and Mexico City and Detroit.” That experience gave her a framework for collaboration that’s carried into this new venture: community first, then innovation.
Small Actions with Big Impact
Lisa and Pierre see their work as part of a broader shift: one that uses food not just for nourishment, but for dialogue and justice. Through pop-up events and collaborations, they’re building spaces where West African and African American cuisines can engage with Japanese culinary traditions. Their approach is intentional: not just mixing ingredients, but exploring where histories and values intersect. Japan’s deep respect for seasonal ingredients and presentation offers a unique setting for this kind of exchange, even as cultural fusion remains relatively uncommon. That contrast makes their work feel all the more necessary.
Their pop-ups are a mobile expression of these goals. They serve as testing grounds for recipes, but also as storytelling spaces where every ingredient has a history and every plate opens a conversation. In Pierre’s words, the food is both nourishing and “culturally beneficial.” Lisa adds, “We’re thinking about food justice and community engagement. Our goal is to make high-quality food accessible, while also respecting where that food comes from.”
Support That Sparked Momentum
That’s where support has made a real difference. A grant from the United States-Japan Foundation (USJF) gave them space, not just financial but psychological, to take key steps forward. “With this grant, we hired a project manager, a graphic designer, and we created a pitch deck, which is actually quite beautiful.” The grant also helped them bring on Justine Lucas, a valued collaborator who previously worked with the singer Rihanna to launch her nonprofit. Even modest resources can unlock real momentum. “None of that momentum would be possible without the grant,” Lisa said. With it, they’ve been able to think more expansively about venues, partnerships, and public engagement. They’re currently planning pop-up events and preparing to bring their work to a broader audience, starting with New York City.
They aren’t trying to scale fast or go commercial. Instead, they’re building relationships – between cultures, between people, and between ideas of what food can do. Their project joins a growing international movement of culturally rooted culinary initiatives that blend storytelling, education, and entrepreneurship. From refugee-run supper clubs in Europe to Indigenous pop-ups in the U.S., this is a space where identity is not just represented; it’s served, shared, and savored.
Bringing the Margins to the Center
In Japan, that work takes on special significance. Food traditions run deep, but cross-cultural fusion often happens quietly, on the margins. Lisa and Pierre’s work invites those margins to move closer to the center – sometimes quite literally. Dishes like yakitori seasoned with African spices or Japanese rice porridge made with African grains are more than clever combinations; they’re invitations to see familiar ingredients through a different cultural lens. (See the image taken from their recent cookbook.)
Of course, the journey isn’t without challenges. “Even if you have a healthy budget every year,” Lisa said, “you have to keep raising that money, you have to keep building your team. You have to keep offsetting costs.” It’s a familiar refrain in nonprofit and creative circles, and one that underscores how vital flexible funding can be for visionaries who are also caregivers, freelancers, or first-time founders.
Still, the tone of the conversation is never discouraged. What comes through most clearly in Lisa’s voice, in Pierre’s plans, and in their work together is resolve. This is not just a side project. It’s a new way of working. A new way of sharing. A new way of advocating.
Their food tells stories: of diaspora and memory, of respect and reinvention. And those stories are just beginning.
