Author: Nana Afua Brantuo In Our Roots, the first episode of High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America, culinary historian Dr. Jessica B. Harris and the documentary’s host Stephen Satterfield enjoy food and conversation at Saveurs du Benin (Flavours of Benin), owned by Chef Valerie Vinakpon in Cotonou. After visiting the Dantokpa Market and learning more about the origins of staple grains, greens, beans, and fruits, the two share a meal that includes fufu, peanut sauce, lamb, amiwo with chicken, black eyed peas cooked in palm oil, and a variety of pepper sauces.
Satterfield, a food writer and founder of Whetstone Magazine, poses questions to Dr. Harris and Chef Vinkapon in hopes of learning more about what inspires and motivates their culinary writing and advocacy. Dr. Harris shares that, while she was travel editor for Essence Magazine in the 70s, “I was beginning to make connections with the food of the African Diaspora…as in I’ve had this before, as in I know this, as in, ooo that tastes like grandma.” Vinakpon, on her work preserving and sharing her country’s recipes and food history, responds briefly before returning to the kitchen, “If we don’t valorise…if we don’t showcase what we can do, who will?”
Award-winning Beninese food blogger Karelle Vignon-Vullierme joins Satterfield in the following scene. As the two dine at Chill n’ Grill, eating reimagined Beninese cuisine prepared by Chef Sedjro Ahouansou, Satterfield engages Vignon-Vullierme in conversation that centers on her culinary roots and footprint. “I’m happy to show the world what we have [in Africa],” she shares. “I’m learning [new] African food[s] everyday. Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Benin – this is my culture and I want all my followers to learn about that.”
In less than 20 minutes, High on the Hog establishes a central theme that is upheld throughout the entire production – the integral role women play as culinary innovators, preservationists and influencers. In telling the story of African American food, High on the Hog – from Cotonou to Galveston – honours the perspectives, insights, and recipes of Black women chefs, food bloggers, food activists, and food historians across borders and generations.
In the series’ second episode, The Rice Kingdom, viewers are transported to the Carolinas in pursuit of the food, labour, and commerce histories of Carolina Gold rice. Satterfield is hosted by Gullah chef and historian Sallie Ann Robinson on Daufuskie Island (one of South Carolina’s Sea Islands) and cultural preservationist Gabrielle Eitienne in North Carolina. In addition to preserving the recipes of ancestors and generations past, both Robinson and Eitienne are land activists fighting for the preservation of their communities. Eitienne shares her family’s fight for their land against land loss through eminent domain before hosting a community dinner that features the food and wine making traditions of North Carolina.
Our Founding Chefs, the series’ third episode travels up the U.S. east coast, from Monticello to Philadelphia and ending in New York City’s boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island. Satterfield visits Monticello to speak to Dr. Niya Bates, Dr. Leni Sorensen, and Gayle Jessup White, and learn more about the culinary legacy of chef James Hemings. Hemings was an enslaved chef who was trained in France, and was responsible for bringing macaroni pie (or macaroni cheese) and crème brulée to the United States.
In Staten Island, Satterfield visits Sandy Ground, the oldest continually inhabited African American community in the United States. He speaks to Sylvia D’Alessandro, Executive Director of the Sandy Ground Historical Society. D'Alessandro narrates Sandy Ground’s history, which starts with the settlement of African American oystermen from Maryland to Staten Island’s south shore in a bid to captain their own boats and farm their own lands freely.
The series’ final episode, Freedom, focuses on the food histories and cultures of Texas, specifically Galveston and Houston. Satterfield is joined by Jerrelle Guy, award-winning food writer and author of Black Girl Baking, for a tasting of red cakes and beverages in honour of Juneteenth. Juneteenth commemorates the announcement of emancipation in Galveston on June 19th, 1865, which ordered the freedom of over 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state of Texas. Red velvet cakes, red strawberry soda, and red punch are consumed in memory of the lives lost and in celebration of the freedom gained. .
In Houston, Satterfield is one among guests invited to Lucille’s for a dinner hosted by Chef Chris Williams, in celebration of Toni Tipton-Martin’s cookbook Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking. Lucille’s is named in memory of Chef Williams’ great grandmother, Lucille Elizabeth Bishop Smith, herself a chef, entrepreneur, inventor, educator, and writer. She authored Lucille’s Treasure Chest of Fine Foods in 1941 and while teaching at Prairie View A&M College (now University), she developed the first college-level Commercial Foods and Technology Department that incorporated an apprentice-training program.
Overall, High on the Hog thoughtfully connects the foodways of West Africa and the African Diaspora in the United States, focusing on the histories and innovation of African American cuisine. The women featured throughout are integral to the documentary’s storytelling and are among hundreds and thousands of Black women who preserve our recipes, histories, lands and waters.