High on the hog : a culinary journey from Africa to America / Jessica B. Harris

Includes bibliographical references and index

Out of Africa : foods, techniques, and ceremonies of the mother continent -- Sea changes : enslavement, the middle passage, and the migrating tastes of Africa -- The power of three : arrivals, encounters, and culinary connections -- The tightening vice [i.e. vise] : indenture to enslavement and the African hand in the food of Colonial America -- In sorrow's kitchen : hog meat, hominy, and the africanizing of the palate of the South -- City food, South and North : caterers, cala vendors, and the continuing of African culinary traditions -- O freedom! : jubilee jubilations -- Westward ho! : migrations, innovations, and a growing culinary divide -- Movin' on up! : resilience, resistance, and entrepreneurs large and small -- We shall not be moved : sit-ins, soul food, and increasing culinary diversity -- We are the world : making it in an expanding Black world and joining an unbroken African culinary circle -- Recipes.

Cookbook author Jessica B. Harris has spent much of her life researching the food and foodways of the African Diaspora. High on the Hog is the culmination of years of her work, and the result is an engaging history of African American cuisine. Harris takes the reader on a harrowing journey from Africa across the Atlantic to America, tracking the trials that the people and the food have undergone along the way. From chitlins and ham hocks to fried chicken and vegan soul, Harris celebrates the delicious and restorative foods of the African American experience and details how each came to form such an important part of African American culture, history, and identity. Although the story of African cuisine in America begins with slavery, High on the Hog ultimately chronicles a history of triumph and survival.