Foods of Africa & the Enslaved with Michael Twitty

Sorry for the autofocus issues at the beginning. They clear up around 6 minutes in.

The "have you eaten rice" is a cultural thing for me too! Lol the word "rice" is synonymous to "food." I love that little bit of linguistic history.

Max, you are a great listener. You let Michael tell his story and not make it about you by interrupting with jokes or input like so many interviewers. Thank you.

Interesting about fufu. I'm a wedding minister, and an African-American couple wanted to do something like the pounding of the yam flesh, showing that they are willing to work together as a couple. They're willing to work to make the marriage strong. However, the ceremony was in a Ritz hotel, so the big container and huge pounding sticks wouldn't work. Instead, they got a mortar & pestle, we used salt (from the earth), and every time I asked an "I Do" question, they'd respond, then together crunch the salt. Turned out really well! If anyone else is considering this ritual for their own wedding ceremony.

First saw him on Townsends. Great presenter and storehouse of historical knowledge.. Thanks for having him on.

My dad grew up in a very poor family since his daddy died when he was 11. He would not allow my mom to serve any cooked greens because he remembers running out of food and picking greens along the railroad tracks. That is sometimes all they had to eat. He also kept the heat on 75 in the winter because he hated being cold. His mom was an excellent cook and was known for her pies. She could make a delicious pie from almost nothing. I enjoyed this episode. May you both have a very happy holiday season.

Actually a lot of traditional European cuisines use “lesser” parts of the animal, with the aim of using everything. People have to eat, everywhere, and traditional European dishes are often very hearty and rustic, lots of stews, lots of “put what you have in a pot and cook it for three hours” dishes. Depending on what grows you have different ingredients but the idea is the same. It’s a bit forgotten now, or seen as “grandma’s cuisine”, “peasant dishes” but some are pretty emblematic. “Pieds paquets” (pig trotters slowly cooked with herbs and onions etc) are a recognised part of the South of France culinary landscape, as well as “boeuf bourguignon” in the north-east, which was made with tough meat, and wine to help make it tender. What people think of when saying “European cuisine” is only the food of the rich people, that got imported because it was trendy. it’s absolutely not what our grandparents or even our parents grew up eating.

My older sister (my dad's daughter) used to find it so weird that we had rice for almost every meal. Her mom is from the Midwest. I didn't realize that you could have other starches for dinner until I went to one of my white friend's house when I was like 10.

I was born in Bluefields, Nicaragua. The city is very diverse with African genes and culture being dominant. My grandmother was from Martinique and used to grind, wash, and dry cassava she called it “farina”. The process removes the cyanide. We eat a lot of plantains, taro, cassava. When served whole, we mash it on the plate. The food is very Caribbean, rondon (rundown in Jamaica, pati (patty), Couvillion, etc. Coconut milk and palm oil are used in most dishes.

The origin story of the "hush puppy" immediately sounded extremely unlikely to me, as someone who has been around a lot of dogs. It would only take a dog a second or two to scarf down something like a hush puppy. If you really wanted to distract a dog with food you would toss it a bone with meat that it would chew for more time.

as a child I adored Gullah Gullah Island. It's how I learned of Gullah Geechee. As a Louisianian I was taught about the Creole culture in our state but it took me ages to find the similarities between Louisiana Creole and Gullah Geechee.

This is quite fascinating! It's like a detective work trying to decipher recipes and histories behind them. Michael Twitty is doing a great job interpreting the history of African cuisine and how it integrated into American every-day recipes. Thank you, Max, for bringing in such an amazing guest!

I love Michael Twitty! The way he presents his information is genuinely so immersive and helps you to get the full scope of the situation enslaved Africans were in. Hoping you two have a blessed holiday if you're celebrating at this time ❤

Michael Twitty is a national cultural treasure. I've been following Tasting History for a long time, but I've never been moved to comment before. Thank you Michael Twitty. Thank you Max Miller; I hope you do a cooking/recipe episode with Mr. Twitty soon.

Thank you. My dad (Jamaican, born 1924) taught me all about this when I was a little girl. He was taught by his dad, and his dad was taught by his grandfather. Though there is a big Scottish relationship, the african contribution is something my father always told me about, where the fruits and vegetables came from, as far as he could tell me, he told it. The Spanish, Portuguese, native peoples, outlawed slaves (Jerk). He told us all. If you can get hold a book by Norma Benghiat, which covers old time Jamaican dishes, she cuts right down to the origins, not printed now, but look out for it. Great, great book (her recipe for patties is AMAZING). I love the book/video High On The Hog as well, so fascinating to see the stuff my Jamaican parents introduced to us from it's origins..

I'm an African American woman who married a Ghanaian man. I spent 15 years learning how to make and consume fufu, dried fish, goat and all kinds of stews. My whole extended family absolutely loves the dipping of the fufu into the soup. It was weird to hear a food historian speak of these foods with a type of disdain. Just as many cultures adapt to and love Indian and Korean food, it's the same with African food. I brought spicy palaver sauce to a potluck one time and I thought the fermented fish smell would turn people off. Those folks were scraping the bottom of the pot with glee. African food of all kinds is pleasurable and fun to eat and I hope this video doesn't turn people off from trying the authentic dishes, not just rice and fried foods.

The, “have you eaten rice,” is something I also can relate to, as an Asian person - our culture also has a big focus on rice. I also am happy that Chef Twitty admitted to not liking some of the, “native,” foods of his descended culture. I am descended from Korean stock, and a food associated with them is kimchi - which if you do not know is fermented, spicy cabbage. Sometimes other vegetables, but I always associate it with cabbage. I. Cannot. Stomach it. At all. I feel it is one of the most insipid substances I have ever tried. So thank you sir, for admitting it. Makes me feel better.

Michael had the right amount of sass 😂 I was so appreciate how he's honest and tells you straight up that you probably won't like authentic authentic African food but there will be dishes that appeal to you. I live in New Zealand and this video, along with "Best Ever Food Review Show" as inspired me to see if we have a local African food restaurant or street food (outside of Egypt, we have plenty of those) West or East Africa.

Love that he brought up archaeology as a way to reconstruct food (and oral history, too!). I had several classes about the archaeology of food and it was one of the things I could have seen myself getting into, back when I still thought I could become a prefessional scholar. (I´m still angry I lost that paper on the reconstruction of Minoan dishes that I used to have). Edit: This prompted me to look it up again and I found it in an astonishingly short time. It´s Chapter 10 in Ceramics, cuisine and culture: the archaeology and science of kitchen pottery in the ancient Mediterranean world. Just throwing this ot here for fun :-)

This video is the most welcome surprise ever! I absolutely love Michaels depth of knowledge and his ability to inform others. This is the collaboration that we all needed.