I was browsing Netflix for something to watch and realized there were a number of cooking-related topics and shows I have been following over the last couple of years. Of all those shows, these are the ones that have had the most impact on my thoughts about global cooking and feeding people. It is true, while I honor all cuisines, as they each have a critical part to play in the culture of various peoples, there are underrepresented cuisines, chefs and cooks, that are out there every day playing a part in keeping their community healthy and united by the role food plays in cultural heritage.
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Native American Peoples + Tribes Cuisine
From 60% – 70% of the food consumed today originated in the lands of America’s Indigenous peoples according to many people noted in documentaries. But part of colonialism, was not only direct genocide, and clueless killing by disease, but in North America it included the intentional elimination of central food sources such as buffalo, removal from the lands that fed the people, as well as denying them their language and culture. Now of course I already know these facts, but what I learned from these first few documentaries was the critical nature of food sovereignty.
Food sovereignty: is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. But this is a lake leading to a waterfall, for if they regain their access to native foods, they relearn the bonds of language, reconnect to their culture, and start finding paths to who they are as a person and as a community. Humble steps yes, but that waterfall leads to an ocean of potential change.
Gather (2020)
This documentary starts with stories from one Apache family in Arizona, where a mother is teaching her daughter to forage from the land and hunt small game, to an Apache chef cooking what is found on that land or grown in their own garden. Then, it turns to intertwine the stories from the South Dakota’s Lakota peoples, and their efforts to bring the buffalo back to their lands. Followed by the perseverance of the Yurok peoples (among other Northern California tribes), to continue their cultural and food reliance on salmon. And finally the Wampanoag Peoples in Massachusetts, who were one of the first “hit” by the influx of European Colonialists, and who are fighting back against the “white washed” concept of Thanksgiving (please see my first post on this holiday).
- The Mashpee Wampanoag were in the news recently having won a major battle to get back control of some of their land, ~320 acres around Cape Cod.
What makes this a good documentary to start with, is that it intermingles the harsh current reality of Indigenous lives and the history of what has happened to these tribes over the last 400 years; and mixes in the positive and meaningful present work being done to reintroduce their culture, language, and food sources to their children. Amazing to me is this is being done while also attempting to use these activities to help their communities tackle the problems of education, health (including COVID and diabetes), alcoholism, suicides, and the other social and public health issues they fight.
The chef in this film is Nephi Craig and there is a restaurant in Arizona that features the food described in this documentary: Cafe Gozhoo.
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African Food Influences on USA
American food can be best described as the combination of food and cooking traditions from South, Central, and North American Indigenous peoples, layered by the food and traditions of each wave of new people coming here (willingly or enslaved) from other places like Jamaica and Africa. So on the Eastern and Southern parts of America we can see the foods reflect those initial people.
Since those early times, American cuisine (if there is such a thing, I have to think about that) continues to adapt to newer immigrants. Influences include, as an example, Afghanistan, China, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Thailand, and Vietnam. Sometimes the influence is local or regional, but often it tends to create a small wave that will ripple across the country.
In my opinion, the critical first expansion into what may be called an American cuisine started with the combination of the Indigenous and African peoples, intermingling with a mixed European, but mainly British, set of food preferences.
High on the Hog (2021)
Chef Stephen Satterfield provides a 1-season (it has recently been renewed for another season) Netflix TV documentary on how Black African foods have influenced what we eat in the USA. The show, which is centered around Dr. Jessica B. Harris’s 2011 book of the same name, travels the planet tracking culinary history, foodways, and recipes of the African diaspora (1).
The documentary currently covers about half the book focusing more on the South, the next series of shows will move west to California. Each chapter, so far, intermixes the political realities of the era, with the foods introduced by enslaved peoples, immigrants, and what was natively available. The first season is four, hour-long chapters covering a look at yams, okra and rice, fish, hogs, mac-n-cheese, and BBQ beef brisket.
I have covered some of this material in my post on Southern Cuisine. Importantly, this documentary series traces the history of many iconic dishes, like mac-n-cheese, from Africa to the USA; in this case it is a dish from James Hemings, Thomas Jefferson’s enslaved cook (1).
What makes this so enjoyable is that this documentary also shares with us people’s delight and joy in cooking and sharing their food. And critically, how deeply rooted this food is in providing a common bond among the community.
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Asian Cuisine Varieties
Asian cuisine in general has become one of the fastest rising foods eaten by many people in America. If I look at just 5 miles around my house, I can find restaurants serving food from Afghanistan, Cambodia, various regions in China and India, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam (1). Now that I have made this list I am just amazed a the diversity of food available to me. Now all this food is not integrated in American cuisine yet, but Boba Tea and Ramen are certainly heading that way; and who hasn’t heard of sushi?
The two series I highlight below are the ones I personally follow for their understanding of the basic foods served in various regions of Asia, and introduce the aliveness and vibrancy of street food that we now enjoy through our growing attention to food trucks.
Flavorful Origins is about the variations of Chinese foods by culinary regions and village traditions. It is a loving look at how people live and what they do, how to grow or fish or hunt for food, and how the various people cook and share meals. It is great for seeing new cooking techniques, learning how people use all parts of what is given to them for food, and how integrated food is in their lives. Meanwhile, Street Food Asia expands on the theme of Asian food by focusing on the wild, strong and determined street vendors serving beloved foods to the masses on the street. Where the first documentary looks to villages, the second focuses on urban settings.
Flavorful Origins (recent Chapter 2021)
I love this 3-season TV documentary for it presents the land and peoples behind the foods of various areas of China. Each season picks a different region, such as Gansu, Yunnan, and Chaochan cuisines. This is a very colorful and informative series that captures unique farming practices (sure to die out soon) to family stories sharing their food and its preparation.
There is no politics in this series, meaning the shows are devoid of conflict, which almost makes it a travelogue, but really provides a sense of how peoples and land are spiritually connected. It focuses on one food dish or ingredient and follows it through the eyes of villagers who have relationship with that food.
No one shows food dishes and ingredients more visually spectacular than this documentary. When watching them sear I can hear the sizzle of oil and almost smell the aroma of scallions or ginger or garlic. And the people are so beautifully and intimately shown planting, harvesting, cooking and eating food. This is the highest level of food representation I have ever seen.
Also, they inadvertently show how wasteful Westerners are by not eating all of the animals and plants we harvest as food. Many of these areas eat everything from the animals they slaughter, the fish they catch (bones, heads, tails), and sea-plants we generally avoid (urchins and others). When I speak of some of the food with friends they make “sour faces” as my Oma would call those expressions. Similar to eating insects, and Chinese people do eat them, my friends consider some aspects of the very animal they are eating as off-limits.
Street Food Asia (2019)
This is a great 2 season (15-parts) series showing some of the wildest characters (Thailand Chef Jay Fai is a world-wonder!) and locations (India, Philippines, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc.). While watching I could almost smell and taste some of the food being prepared, and wished we could travel more safely around the world, for there are some folks I would love to visit and whose food I would love to eat.
This documentary shows the vibrancy of many food havens all around the world’s urban settings as people cook and eat food in a lively, immediate, and passionate way. The daily routine of Asian urban settings is that they are full of people rushing to and from work needing a healthy and nutritious quick meal for breakfast or lunch, and these vendors aim to please. Also too, the food is often cheap.
What does come through is a political struggle between governments who do not like the street vendors and the population who use them daily and love the food. I think the contention lies in several issues:
- Loss of governmental control and perhaps fee collections
- Some feel that street vendors keep the area from modernizing and thus impacts revenue.
- Others seem to think street vendors are unsanitary and spread diseases.
But I agree with F.G.Arno that the significance of the street food industry for Asian societies has been ignored for too long by politics. In effect, street food bears positive social, economic and nutritional aspects, which need to be recognized by local authorities and governments.
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The Elements of Food + Cooking
Cooked (2016)
Michael Pollan explores a variety of food and its preparation using the four concepts of: fire, water, air, and earth. These concepts translates into the four chapters of this series.
First is the “fire” chapter showing Australian aboriginal hunting, and cooking meat over fire. Stating, we became human once we started to cook. And arguing that the concept of a “fire in the hearth” is a powerful, deeply ingrained image of safety and home in each of us.
The second chapter looks at cooking with “water” such as in Indian soups and stews. His point is that the smell of cooking stews, or seeing the large soup pot on the stove or over a fire, represents gathering the family or tribe around the table and eating, sharing, and silently giving thanks for safety and our family or community. This too is deeply ingrained in the human heart.
In the third chapter, entitled “air”, looks at bread making around the world and importance of gluten. Pollan states that bread is universal, and generally made by mixing simple ingredients. This chapter is called “air” because kneading dough is important for bread, which is also described as getting air into the dough. Pollan states that each pocket of air contain in the dough contains a gas that lends aroma and flavor. Once farming started, bread (in its various forms and from a variety of base ingredients) was a staple for humanity.
Finally, the fourth chapter deals with “earth” and looks at microbes and the fermentation process. In fact, the earthly microbes are critical to the fermentation of the foods we eat everyday. Pollan states that up to 1/3 of our (USA Western) diet consists of fermented foods that we are totally unaware of: catsup, beer, salami, hot sauce, chocolate, etc.
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (2018)
This delightful series explores Chef Samin’s approach to cooking, using ingredients directly from the lands she visits. This is a smart approach to how a cook needs to look at the ingredients they are adding to their dishes. It also shows that cooking involves tasting basic ingredients, learning how they are used, and learning as an apprentice with those in the community to whom the cuisine is cultural. I find the documentary part travelogue, part an introduction to cuisines (Mexican, Iranian, etc), and part cooking show. But throughout it is enjoyable even for non-cooks as we learn more about this particular Chef. She is delightful to watch on screen.
I have written a post on Cook as Alchemist, that explores some of these themes.
Salutation
There are many other shows related to cooking on Netflix and elsewhere, but so far these are the ones I have enjoyed and continue to learn from every time something new is released. I also admit I rewatch them for there are always new things I catch, or new appreciations I experience.
Please watch if you are able as there is so much we each need to learn about our history and the food we consume.
—Patty
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