Witch & Popcorn
Review of High on the Hog
I started watching a docuseries last night and I cried so hard, my chest still hurts today. I can’t wait to watch the rest of it. This show blew everybody away in just one season, and another season is in progress. A 2021 Peabody Award winner, the show chronicles the journey of African slaves from their hometowns to America, and the show details how their food influenced American cuisine all over the South and into Texas. A trailer for this amazing show is here:
As a white person, I can never understand the significance of foods that came from Africa. I only know those foods are the ones known as Southern cooking in all the regions of the South from the Carolinas all the way to Mississippi and New Orleans, and even into Georgia and as far north as Kentucky. From red rice, to okra, fried chicken, and gumbo, these “traditional Southern American foods” have become such, but they are not American foods at all- not really. They are the foods of Africa that slaves brought with them when they were kidnapped and sold into slavery.
Growing up a white Southerner, the N-Word was a big part of white vocabulary, and we were told to stay away from black men, who were always supposedly seeking to hurt a good white female. I was told that black people smelled bad, especially when they got sweaty, and I was told that at night, you could not see a black person who was dressed in dark colors unless you could see their eyes or teeth. I was even told racist jokes by adults when I was as young as age 12. You would think I am close to 100 years old, wouldn’t you? I have not quite made it to age 50. I was born in 1975, and even that recently, white Southerners were hating on people of color- and taking credit for African American food.
Every white household fried chicken, did okra gumbo, shrimp creole, and black eyed peas. Housewives excitedly served dishes, some of whom got their recipes from grandmothers who got their recipes from “mammie’s” who were paid to feed white families. Our parents drank too much, smoked like chimneys, got pregnant by the neighbor men, and beat the hell out of their kids, but they always, always insisted they were superior because they were white.
The show High on The Hog from 2021 put it all into perspective the way the 20th century culture like this happened. Slavery. The show is hosted by food writer, producer, and entrepreneur Stephen A. Satterfield. He travels all over Africa, seeking the roots of the African American traditional dishes, and makes friends with food writers, historians, and groundbreaking chefs all of whom share their knowledge along the way.
First in the show, it shows how slavery began. He walked a road in Dahomey where slaves were trekked for four days to dungeons by ports where they were kept before being taken to their buyers. He is then taken to a place where the people “who didn’t make it” or who died before they were boarded on the ships were thrown into a mass grave. If you don’t cry your eyes out watching this, you don’t have a heart.
The show moves to South Carolina where the world’s most famous rice was grown, it was even exported to China and Japan. In the show, it was said nobody could do well with the rice until Africans were brought to America. It is shown how okra, black eyed peas, and other foods as well as rice is used, sold, and grown in Africa, and you get to learn how African slaves cooked the food the Nation grew up on. It is taught how the South Carolina Sea Island Gullah people were able to preserve their culture because they were isolated, and the sad truth that a lot of the Gulla’s descendants are leaving the areas because the cost of living is high. So rich resort goers get to stay there to enjoy the foods, but the people whose ancestors created it can’t afford to stay. I really don’t know if America as we know it would have survived without Africans, and it’s one hell of a note how many white people don’t understand that.
The show is a celebration of a people and their survival despite all the odds being against them. They took care of white families while their own families were sold and taken away from them. They fed white families and created cuisine based on the foods of their homeland while the very people who they fed and cared for starved them. They healed, nurtured, and raised white families, while white families abused and slaughtered them. They are still here despite it all.
From sea to shining sea, our great nation was built on the backs of slaves who would never get to live to see the splendor they created. Their voices were silenced, but today they speak out. Their hands were bound, but today they join hands with families to give thanks for one another. Their accomplishments were claimed by the people who enslaved them, but today they are taking back their foodways, art and culture.
This is a show every American regardless of race and ancestry should watch. Be prepared to be shocked and horrified and be prepared to want to cook and eat every last dish the chefs, families, authors, and historians share. This show is about food, but it is about more than just that. It is a celebration of a people who overcame insurmountable odds, and who stand tall and proud today. You can watch this on Netflix, and you can also buy a copy of a 2011 book this was inspired by right here: High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America: Jessica B. Harris, Maya Angelou: 9781608194506: Amazon.com: Books
Watch the show and get the book. You can thank me later.
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About the Author:
Saoirse is a practicing witch, and initiated Wiccan of an Eclectic Tradition.
A recovered Catholic, she was raised to believe in heaven and hell, that there is only one god, and only one way to believe. As she approached her late 20’s, little things started to show her this was all wrong. She was most inspired by the saying “God is too big to fit into one religion” and after a heated exchange with the then associate pastor of the last Xtian church she attended, she finally realized she was in no way Xtian, and decided to move on to see where she could find her spiritual home.
Her homecoming to her Path was after many years of being called to The Old Ways and the Goddess, and happened in Phoenix, Arizona. She really did rise from her own ashes!
Upon returning to Ohio, she thought Chaos Magic was the answer, and soon discovered it was actually Wicca. She was blessed with a marvelous mentor, Lord Shadow, and started a Magical Discussion Group at local Metaphysical Shop Fly By Night. The group was later dubbed A Gathering of Paths. For a few years, this group met, discussed, did rituals, fellowship, and volunteering together, and even marched as a Pagan group with members of other groups at the local gay Pride Parade for eight years.
All the while, she continued studying with her mentor, Lord Shadow, and she became a Third Degree High priestess in 2022. She belongs to the Black Dragon Clan.