I watched all the episodes today. Great program as always. I think my favorite episode was the fourth highlighting the ways in which the younger generations are able to use food as a praxis for activism, reclamation, and reformation. With respect to reformation, I was particularly moved by the Harlem watermelon street vendor on episode #2. A fruit that has been rejected by many has been made the chief cornerstone - reforming a man from a life on the streets, making a way for economic provision, cleaving him to a rich legacy of NYC street vendors stemming all the way back to Thomas Downing "NYC's Oyster King", cleaving him to black farmers in rural Georgia, and being the catalyst for conversations around land ownership, cultivation, and stewardship. Marvelous.
Of course, I love how the chefs use food as a medium for storytelling. The Chicago segment at the restaurant Virtue with the journalist Natalie Y. Moore was fascinating. Admittedly, I've eaten there before and left without needing to have a second visit. But I think I will revisit that decision. What I was missing was the storytelling. And thinking back, I'm not clear if it was being communicated. But I loved the way the chef communicated the Great Migration through the three course meal. The dessert in boxes as a homage to the meals that migrants from the South prepared for their rides to the North in the pullman cars was brilliant.
The creative ways in which the chef reimagined their childhoods, for instance, the chef from Harlem who reconceptualized pork n beans using hamhock was pretty cool. I also liked how the black queer chef in LA used elements in her food that reminded her of her home family as a way to build kinship ties among other queer women of color in her new city.
All in all, great programming. My only gripe would be with Satterfield himself. He's great with language and being thoughtful in the moment but he's a bit sleepy. I think the programming could have used a host with just a tad bit more dynamism. After all, although there were certainly solemn moments, overall this was a celebration of our culture.
Personally, I think HOTH covered enough of American foodways, and, if there are to be further seasons, I would like to see other regions in the diaspora covered.
