Six on History: Food
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"Are you watching Netflix’s “High on the Hog” this weekend?
The limited series (which deserves to be unlimited) debuted on Wednesday and has stirred a lot of warranted media attention; it broke into Netflix’s Top 10 viewing list in its first two days.
Based on a book of the same name by Jessica B. Harris, the show’s four episodes illuminate the largely under-acknowledged Black contributions to America’s food culture. It begins in Benin, West Africa, with Harris and the show’s host, Stephen Satterfield, who then travels to America following the culinary trails Harris laid out in her work.
It’s moving, it’s enlightening, it’s salient.
I wrote about it, but I’ll include here an extended quote from a conversation I had with Satterfield. We were talking about why “High on the Hog” with its all-Black creative team was revelatory and — to use a word emphasized by Osayi Endolyn in her lyric essay on the series in the New York Times — overdue.
Here’s what he said:
“It really makes me emotional. It’s so much to hold, you know? What I hope people take away, through the sense of awe and curiosity from what they see on the show, is to bring that curiosity into their own lives as a means for investigation. What other stories are missing?
“I can’t even begin to speculate what the show’s impact will be, but I can tell you that had it not been for food media, I would not be here. The Food Network, Jacques [Pepin], Julia [Child], Martha Stewart: Consuming this kind of media was so formative that I decided as a teenager to dedicate the rest of my life to food. Now we have a whole generation of Black youth who are going to see this program. I know how high the stakes are.
“And this is why I’ve gone so hard for media in my career — why I founded Whetstone. It’s not just about the content. This is about power, because stories are central to power. People who don’t have power are written out of the story, which is why we could get all the way to 2021 and say, why haven’t we seen this story about macaroni and cheese told this way on television before?
“Because it took this long. Because we haven’t held the power to control the stories. So when people ask, why does it matter that there are Black directors, a Black showrunner, Black producers, a Black host, a Black cast? We have the opportunity for the first time to tell our own story in our care — not through an interpretation of a white director or producer. I think the results of that creative autonomy are so clear. To me it’s the primary difference between this show and any other in the food-travel genre. It’s rare and powerful.”
Bonus: Watching the show will make you very, very hungry."
"Shelly Ortiz spent 10 years working in restaurants, most recently at a ramen joint in Phoenix, Arizona, before deciding to change careers five months into the pandemic. The last straw: A male customer asked that she pull down her face mask so he could base his tip on the attractiveness of her smile. When she declined, he declared that he would instead make his decision by eyeballing her chest.
Such incidents are all too common in the restaurant world. More than 70% of women who work as servers, bartenders or in other food industry roles say they've been sexually harassed by their employers, coworkers or customers, according to a recent survey by One Fair Wage, an advocacy group, in partnership with Social Science Research Solutions. The COVID-19 pandemic has only made things worse.
The rate of sexual harassment among female restaurant workers is the highest of any industry, according to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) data. Before the coronavirus crisis, women in the restaurant business filed sexual harassment charges with the EEOC at twice the rate of the general workforce. Across the U.S., 7% of working women hold jobs in the restaurant industry, which accounts for 14% of all sexual harassment reports to the EEOC, according to One Fair Wage.
Now COVID-19 has made on-the-job encounters that were previously uncomfortable, outright life-threatening. Ortiz, 25, ultimately decided this kind of harassment wasn't worth the $8 an hour plus tips she was earning while putting her life on the line amid the pandemic. Fewer diners during COVID-19 meant she saw her tips drop nearly in half, to around $80 a night from up to $150 during a particularly lucrative shift.
Philip D,
As you may know, the SPLC’s Learning for Justice project (formerly Teaching Tolerance) has long worked for justice in schools, providing free resources for creating equitable, inclusive classrooms and school communities.
Today, Learning for Justice released a new short video designed to offer an age-appropriate way to talk with elementary children about what countering bias looks like in practice.
An original children’s story from author, educator and LFJ awardee Elizabeth Kleinrock, Min Jee’s Lunch was published in the fall of 2020 in response to increased reports of racism around the coronavirus.
You can watch and share Min Jee’s Lunch here. Accompanying reader questions can be found here.
In the story, a classmate announces that Min Jee’s Korean lunch is “how everyone got sick.” Min Jee and her friends must decide how to respond.
We know young people face decisions like this every day. The organization Stop AAPI Hate recently announced that reports of hate incidents targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have increased dramatically this spring—including in schools.
We developed this short video, beautifully illustrated by Janice Chang and read by Kleinrock, to help start conversations about ways to push back against hate and speak up for what is right. We hope you’ll share Min Jee’s Lunch with the educators, caregivers and children in your life.
Sincerely,
