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Spice Mastery Workshop: Celebrate Black History Month

with Jikoni Toledo

Embark on a flavorful journey in the Spice Mastery Workshop, a Black History Month program, where you'll delve into the fascinating world of homemade spice blends. 

Embark on a flavorful journey in the Spice Mastery Workshop, a Black History Month program, where you'll delve into the fascinating world of homemade spice blends. This workshop is led by Tom Otieno, chef and owner of Jikoni Toledo, a food truck and catering company serving East African fare. Otieno, a native of Kenya, will share that Jikoni means “kitchen” in Swahili as he offers tips, recipe handouts, and spice blending guides for your own home kitchen.

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) has selected African Americans and Labor as the theme of Black History Month 2025. In celebration of this theme, Toledo Library is hosting programs throughout February that spotlight Black-owned businesses in Lucas County.

From the ASALH website (asalh.org):

The 2025 Black History Month theme, African Americans, and Labor, focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds – free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary – intersect with the collective experiences of Black people. Indeed, work is at the very center of much of Black history and culture. Be it the traditional agricultural labor of enslaved Africans that fed Low Country colonies, debates among Black educators on the importance of vocational training, self-help strategies and entrepreneurship in Black communities, or organized labor’s role in fighting both economic and social injustice, Black people’s work has been transformational throughout the U.S., Africa, and the Diaspora. The 2025 Black History Month theme, “African Americans and Labor,” sets out to highlight and celebrate the potent impact of this work.