High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America

Ignore the poor reviews on this and enjoy this brief series on the roots and culture of African American cuisine. The host serves as both guide and culinary tourist. A great documentary series leaves me feeling that I had an inside look of something personal and profound and wanting to know more.

Season 2 is just as captivating as season 1, the food is amazing, and there is an equally wonderful integration of the story behind how African American people used the medium of food to survive in America and abroad. Most pleasurable was the story of Georgia Gilmore, and how she helped the civil rights movement. Amazing!

You will see that our way of eating is not the same as other people. We have access to little of our ancestral ingredients and even the knowledge of the food and recipes. There are resources for those who want to learn: The Underground Wellroad Journal: Charting our unconventional wellness journey!

The African American Intuitive Eating Initiative shows you how to eat our food, not diet, and remain healthy!

Also, Oldways has a course, A Taste of African Heritage, that you can learn about the history of the cuisine.

A great documentary that shows how important the connection between local cuisine and one's own origins and identity is. We at Manuyoo, a Berlin start-up, bring products made in Africa to Europe & Germany, such as the Sodabi Tambour Original from Benin and other exceptionally great products. In addition to promoting fair trade with African countries, we also contribute to the dissemination of culinary delicacies.

The beat in this series just didn't hit for me. The food aspect was great in the sense that they can mostly explain the origins of the food and how it ties into African culture and later it's influence into the African-American and American culture, they do great with that part of this docu-series. Somewhere down the line instead of enjoying the food I felt like I was forced fed instead. The host, Stephen, is not the glue holding this documentary together. There is something that is disconnecting from him that I just can't put my finger on.... I don't know. Also, what's with the costumes he wears? For example, the oyster community part in episode 2 they talk about in Staten Island. He got all dressed up in what looked like an Oyster farming outfit to do....nothing. It was for show and I don't see point why. Let's elevate this show and bring it back down to Earth. Stephen, just be more real with who you interact with, let loose and show your real personality. No need to be uber-proper but also don't be rude. I really really really wanted to love this show but it's hard to get through one episode at a time.

I gave it a 9/10 only cause it was so short and I wanted more.