{"id":7950,"date":"2021-08-08T13:49:56","date_gmt":"2021-08-08T18:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/?p=7950"},"modified":"2021-08-08T13:49:56","modified_gmt":"2021-08-08T18:49:56","slug":"from-stranger-things-to-high-on-the-hog-is-it-life-or-netflix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/2021\/08\/from-stranger-things-to-high-on-the-hog-is-it-life-or-netflix\/","title":{"rendered":"From Stranger Things to High on the Hog: Is it Life or Netflix?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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THE TWO HUMANS AND ONE CANINE<\/span><\/strong> in my household have been in the Upside Down this week. (Not all three at once, but seemingly two at all times.) You know the\u00a0Upside Down<\/a>, that flipped-over underworld home of seething demons that plagued the characters in the most excellent Netflix series\u00a0Stranger Things<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We\u2019ve taken to saying we\u2019re in the Upside Down whenever we feel not quite right, like an alien alter ego has invaded our equilibrium and left it teetering. Of course the canine did not verbally check in with his symptoms, but anyone who\u2019s ever hung around a dog who\u2019s a bit punk knows the signs \u2013 the lethargy, the clinging, the forlorn look in those big eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But hey, if a bunch of 12-year-olds on banana bikes can conquer the creepy demogorgons and silence the Mind Flayer, then I think we should be able to toss off a little August weirdness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though if you are a Vineyarder, you might agree that the whole Island seems to be in the Upside Down this August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here\u2019s an example: On each of the three days I left my house early last week (Sunday, Monday and Wednesday \u2013 I stayed safely at home on Tuesday), I found myself behind major car accidents (twice) or pulling over for emergency vehicles (twice). And this was all on the same road \u2014 the road we use to get everywhere, a two-lane road that runs from east to west (and west to east), down-Island to up-Island and back down-Island. There are no stoplights on the Vineyard; max speed limit is 45 mph.\u00a0In other words, we\u2019re not well set up for an onslaught of city drivers who race to get everywhere in humongous vehicles twice the size of an average Vineyard pickup truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m starting to feel like when I get to the end of my dirt road I should have a special force field to raise around my car as I turn out into the parade of whizzing cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The record number of cars and people on the Island this summer is a bit jarring, to say the least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, it was grey and rainy most of the week \u2013 lovely for the plants but surreptitiously mood-reducing. Add to the mix a report on mounting Covid cases on the Island again, complete with Delta variant and a high percentage of \u201cbreakthrough\u201d cases of vaccinated folks. And Whoopee! Way to put a damper on getting out and enjoying the 4000 events that go on out here in the second and third week of August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to know whether to hide under a rock or throw caution to the wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of course, as you know, I\u2019m mostly the hide-under-the-rock kind. (All alcoholics are excellent isolators \u2013 they excel in it, I\u2019m afraid. It is not something they willingly give up, even years into recovery. That\u2019s why we have sponsors to check in with.) But that is not going to work for me this week. Of the bigger events coming up, one of them is ours (meaning the company I work for, the\u00a0Vineyard Gazette Media Group<\/a>,\u00a0and specifically\u00a0cookthevineyard.com<\/a>), and I must be, er, present for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, not just present, but on point: I\u2019m moderating the panel discussion between\u00a0Sam Sifton<\/a>\u00a0(NYT Cooking<\/a>),\u00a0Dawn Davis<\/a>\u00a0(Bon App\u00e9tit<\/a>), and\u00a0Dr. Jessica B. Harris<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(author and historian). Our topic is\u00a0The Changing Story of American Home Cooking<\/a>, and we\u2019re taking a look at how the food media is opening up to a broader spectrum of voices. (We\u2019ll be under a tent at the Martha\u2019s Vineyard Museum; if you\u2019d like to join us,\u00a0you can get tickets online<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Honestly, this will be exciting (though my stomach will betray me as it always does before I go in front of large groups of people), and it\u2019s not like any one of these three people is a shrinking violet \u2013 they could talk amongst themselves quite easily without me even being there. (Indeed, ideally that will be mostly the case!) But since I am so goal-oriented, I want to be sure the audience will walk away with a clear story in their heads, to know about the changes the food media is undertaking to tell a wider range of stories.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the things I\u2019m doing to prepare is watching\u00a0High on the Hog<\/a>, another excellent Netflix production, though this one a documentary series. Maybe you\u2019ve seen it by now; I\u2019ve been meaning to get to it all summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Inspired by Dr. Harris\u2019 work tracing the journey of African ingredients and cuisine to this continent in her 2012 book,\u00a0High on the Hog<\/a>, the documentary is a fascinating and emotional look at how much of what we think of as American food has its roots in African ingredients and African American cooking. Macaroni and cheese, for one. (Here\u2019s a link to Dr. Harris\u2019 recipe for\u00a0Spicy Three-Cheese Marcaroni and Cheese<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The host of the series is personable food writer\u00a0Stephen Satterfield<\/a>, who travels with Dr. Harris in the first episode to the West African nation of Benin, where almost one million Africans departed for a life in slavery. The four-part series travels back to America \u2013 first to the Low Country of South Carolina where enslaved people built the nation\u2019s first big business \u2013 rice farming \u2013 and from there to Philadelphia, Virginia, Texas and California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are a lover of food and history and interested in expanding your understanding of the African contribution to American cuisine, I highly recommend watching this beautiful documentary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once again I\u2019m reminded that to enrich my life (and come back from the Upside Down), I just have to stick my nose out from under the rock. And maybe watch a little more Netflix!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish you could all join me on\u00a0Wednesday<\/a>, but I\u2019m comforted in knowing some of you will be there and that the universal topic of home cooking will be center stage. No matter what you cook or where your food traditions come from, the act of gathering at the table for a meal cooked with love is a universal connection we all share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tomato-Ginger Bisque<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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LOOKING FOR RECIPES?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit cookthevineyard.com<\/a> and sign up for the free weekly newsletter<\/a>. (Something I do as part of my day job.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you arrived here from the internet and would like to subscribe to the Sixburnersue blog, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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THE TWO HUMANS AND ONE CANINE in my household have been in the Upside Down this week. (Not all three at once, but seemingly two at all times.) You know the\u00a0Upside Down, that flipped-over underworld home of seething demons that plagued the characters in the most excellent Netflix series\u00a0Stranger Things? We\u2019ve taken to saying we\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[163,164,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7950"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7950"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7968,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7950\/revisions\/7968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sixburnersue.com\/cooking-fresh-eating-green\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}