Today we’d like to introduce you to Martin Draluck.
Martin, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The Black Pot Supper Club was founded on the investment my family put into me. My mom’s mother, Marcia Howard, born in a Jewish household in NY, was a life long civil rights activist starting when she was born in 1932, working for groups like C.O.R.E., S.N.C.C., S.C.L.C., and B’nai Brith. My grandfather, James Howard, picked cotton in his Austin, Texas youth. As an adult he owned and operated Dem Bones BBQ here in Los Angeles where I spent quite a bit of time as a kid. He is the owner of the footsteps I followed into the kitchen. My mom has always been a hard working single parent, and amongst the many things she passed a long to me was an absolute love of history.
I started culinary school in my early 20’s and began working at Joe’s Restaurant in Venice, CA, as a pastry chef where I met my friend and future culinary mentor Brian Dunsmoor. After stints at Milo & Olive and other small spaces around town, I was able to reconnect with Brian, working along side him for the next decade, culminating in the creation of the Hemings & Hercules project at Hatchet Hall in Culver City, where I served as Brian’s Chef de Cuisine.
Hemings & Hercules was the beginning of the current journey that I’m on. The series, based on the stories of James Hemings and Hercules Posey and their influence on American cuisine, brought our work to Netflix’s High on the Hog documentary. When the documentary was released in 2021, I was working at Post & Beam at the time, and the amount of people coming in to experience what they had seen on the documentary was overwhelming. Unfortunately at that very moment, we were not doing any such series. But at Post & Beam in 2022, is where the Black Pot Supper Club was born.
Three years removed from our founding, and we have done well over 100 experiences from communal dinners at Post and Beam and Alta Adams, to dinners in Houston, TX, Manhattan, NY, and Martha’s Vineyard, MA. We have done different experiences for Chase, Nike, Spotify, H&M, ABC, FX; been featured in ad campaigns for Genesis Motors, and American Express; given talks at UCLA, and UC Davis, as well as work with USC, Cal State LA, Stanford, and different schools in and around Los Angeles from elementary through high school. There has even been an annual BPSC Jr. program developed in one local school district. And of course we have had the pleasure of being featured in numerous articles and tv spots. All for having the pleasure of sharing the stories of James Hemings, Hercules Posey, and the countless other men and women we have covered in our brief time doing this.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I think the biggest challenge is always the down periods when money gets tight, and there hasnt been work in a while. It’s a challenge sometimes to stick to your guns, and not take a position where the money might be consistent but you wont be living and working on your own terms any longer.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
To expand on one of the previous questions, at this point I jump between chef and culinary historian. The Black Pot Supper Club has developed into an African American culinary history project hosting dinners, workshops, and talks highlighting the stories of the individual Black and African American men and women who shaped the way we dine in the country.
What I am most proud of is that I’ve created a very unique, almost niche, career for myself. One that when the idea came to me, I said I was going to do, and going into our fourth year in 2026, not only are we still here but we have evolved into things I couldnt have imagined.
What were you like growing up?
I would say I was just an average kid growing up. Had my friend group, played sports, listened to music, played video games, and watched wrestling. The one thing I will say is that I always had an interest in Negro League baseball. I realized recently that in many ways, my interest in that, and the individual players and characters that thrived in that league, is very similar to my interest in the individual men and women who work in the kitchens of American history.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.blackpotsupperclub.com
- Instagram: @blackpotsupperclub.com
