Kenyatta Ashford Embraces Ghanaian, Chinese and Louisianan Culinary Traditions with an Eye on the Future

Kenyatta Ashford opened Neutral Ground, a self-described modern New Orleans-style po'boy and yakamein restaurant, on Juneteenth this year in a historically African American part of Chattanooga. His cooking harkens back to some of the more traditional dishes he grew up eating in Louisiana, as well as the ingredients he ate on formative trips to Ghana and Benin. In his work, Ashford is telling an important culinary story by using those experiences in...