The Return of ‘High On The Hog,’ the Best Food Show on Streaming TV

In the wake of losing Anthony Bourdain, there’s been a lot of very bad, very corny food television. Every suit from a channel or streamer has clapped their hands together, proclaiming, “We got our guy!” They then proceed to do their best hollow take on what the lauded chef did during his time on camera. And it always sucks. Thankfully, Steven Satterfield is back with his second season of High on the Hog, which is probably the best food series streaming.  

Satterfield knows his food. He’s a chef, food writer, and even a sommelier. He’s a calm presence who relays the meal’s importance through an examination handled carefully. In the show’s second season, the scope drills down into the cultural impact of post-emancipation African American cuisine. In season one, the show’s roots gave the viewer a history lesson that many of the things we eat and consider “southern food” are African, namely rice and okra, and how we dress greens and cook pork. Satterfield and food historian Jessica B. Harris, Ph. (who wrote the book that inspired the show) dove deep into the diaspora that influenced so much of what we eat in America.

 In season two, Satterfield and Harris take on the American landscape, namely the cultural behemoths of Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. During their trips to these cities, we’re educated on the impact of the foods we consume like gumbo, chicken, and waffles. The show celebrates the stories of Black people and their contributions to American cuisine traditions. “So often in our history, we have been erased. And we know that history itself is really a telling of one particular version of the story…often consistent with the narrator who holds power,” he said.

Even though some of the past stories are hard to digest, the warmth Satterfield brings to the material is infectious. Satterfield never crowds the space but always asks questions and pays homage to those who worked on the Pullman cars, who put in the work of the past kitchens. His quiet respect for the material gives the people at the heart of the story plenty of room to tell hard stories about times when things weren’t so equal. 

Season two gives a history lesson into The Great Migration, with people leaving the South and heading to Chicago and New York, and how that influence changed the dynamics of how these cities worked and how they ate. And on those long train rides, those who made the trip brought foods like fried chicken and biscuits – options that were easy to travel with. “Migration is the first time that you see us [Black people] on the move, and we’re in a migration that is not about escaping, but about moving toward something more possible,” Satterfield said.

One of the most pivotal episodes takes place in Atlanta, where Satterfield speaks to the students who were a part of the historic sit-ins with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr about how restaurants acted as a conduit for activism. Food is a ceremonial act, and High on the Hog illustrates sitting down for a meal and breaking bread as an act of defiance against the world, something symbolic for both people who stayed in the past and those who broke forward. The show spotlighted James and Robert Paschal of Paschal’s Atlanta Restaurant, a meeting place for civil rights leaders and Morehouse and Spelman College students who organized the sit-ins that changed America. 

Season two opens at the Atlantic Ocean, where enslaved Africans’ entry point was to the then 13 colonies. But through the season, we experience the lives of the people who lived through the struggles of establishing a voice within a people. The message of the show is even more poignant due to the weird political climate we endure as plenty of politicians put on their best smoke and mirrors act to advance legislation to erase the teaching of Black history in America. 

We meet a Pullman Porter, a group of unionized men who worked as rail sleeping car attendants, the Muslims who sold bean pies in Atlanta, how the Black Panthers established the

Many people don’t want to acknowledge the free Breakfast for School Children Program. 

The series also does its best to highlight the voices making noise today while paying tribute to the past. We meet the people who are bringing the culture of historical food and flavors to the forefront, and places like Harlem and New Orleans have food scenes that are still vibrant and important as the generations go by. There are reflections on the foods influenced by Latin America and the Caribbean, which are a part of a connected story. “The whole notion of erasure hasn’t just been African Americans,” Harris says. “But the pride in one’s food, the notion of what’s on the plate, and how one accepts it are all very much shared things.” Harris continued, “Jamaica distinguishes itself from the rest of the Caribbean because you say it’s rice and peas, not peas and rice, that is a parallel story.”

The show’s voice is powerful, and rife with the desire to educate everyone on the impact of Black food in America. If you’re curious about how many of the things we take for granted got on our plate, this is the perfect entry point into a larger world. 

Both seasons of High on The Hog are streaming on Netflix.