Soul Food Sunday with Chef Guidance Moon

A Recent Event Brought Fried Chicken, Collard Greens, Gumbo, and More to Unity Church of Santa Barbara

Chef Guidance Moon, right, and her son, Elishah Barthelemy, at a recent Soul Food Sunday event. | Photo: Courtesy

“I feel like Soul Food has a feeling. It’s more than just food. It’s about spreading that love and community throughout,” said chef and SBCC culinary student Guidance Moon, who cooked up a delicious lunch for a Soul Food Sunday event on October 13 at Unity Church of Santa Barbara. The event was partially a fundraiser to help support Moon’s culinary arts education at SBCC and also an opportunity for Moon to share her food with the Santa Barbara community. Despite the event being rescheduled a couple times, Moon came ready with platters of fried chicken, potato salad, collard greens, mac and cheese, and gumbo for an eager crowd of community members.

Community members continued to thank her for the good food, with some younger children excitedly expressing how much they enjoyed the lunch. The Soul Food Sunday event came out of meeting some church-goers during Fiesta, who noted their enthusiasm to host the lunch. Moon is no stranger to cooking for events such as this one and since arriving in Santa Barbara, has been looking for more opportunities to cook in the community.

After moving from Louisiana to California, Moon began attending SBCC and worked as an intern for the Ritz-Carlton Bacara. She is preparing to graduate with a degree in culinary arts education from SBCC in Spring 2025. Amidst her culinary journey in Santa Barbara, Moon has been battling a genetic blood disorder and has been attending Ridley-Tree Cancer Center as she recovers from cervical cancer. “My struggle with chronic illness is not letting it stop me from doing the things I love and serving my community,” Moon said proudly.

Her time at SBCC has been both a culinary and personal journey. “There’s really not an avenue of growth for culinary in Santa Barbara where there’s only one college program and that’s at SBCC,” she explained. Her time as a student has included pushing for more opportunities to host events that empower chefs of color to share their food and cook for the community. It stems partially from her start cooking in Santa Barbara.

Moon has been cooking Soul Food at pop-ups on State Street, catering for events and organizations, and is the Executive Chef of Momma’s Soul Food Fusion. An internship, attending school, finding time to cook, and being a mom was a lot to juggle, but Moon expressed her enthusiasm throughout her journey. “Cooking is my passion, like it’s a ministry for me,” she said.

The recent Soul Food Sunday event is just one of the food events/programs that Moon has been working on. She received the first Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations (MEHKO) permit to cook from home. In this way, Moon’s food business — Momma’s Soul Food Fusion — can cook and sell from her home through DoorDash and UberEats.

But most recently, Moon received a 2024 Food Justice Microgrant Award from the Santa Barbara County Food Action Network for her Soul Food for All Project. Through mentorship, cooking at events, and hands-on gardening work, Moon’s goal is to spread awareness and access to Soul Food. She’s been working to set up a Soul Food garden to give people access to the foods typically used to make Soul Food. She also works closely with young chefs, especially chefs of color and chefs with disabilities.

Moon explained that cooking is one of the ways Black people have fought racism and pushed to bring diversity into predominantly white spaces. “Soul Food teaches us how to create something beautiful out of things that people throw away,” she said. The connection of making and eating good food together fuels her enthusiasm to continue culinary journey in Santa Barbara.

“Santa Barbara is ready and hungry,” Moon joked. “They’ve been hungry for so long, and I’m here.”

For more information about Guidance Moon and her work, see linktr.ee/guidancemoon.