Following her appearance on Thacker Mountain Radio, there will be a dinner at City Grocery honoring Jessica Harris and her new book, High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America. Please join us for drinks to celebrate upstairs at City Grocery, and then move downstairs at 9:00 p.m. for a community dinner that will feature a one-of-a-kind menu prepared by her friend and fellow Beard Award winner, John Currence. Seating is limited. Contact City Grocery at 662-232-8080 for further information. More info at the City Grocery blog.
Acclaimed 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 a most 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 thrilling history of triumph and survival. The work of a masterful storyteller and an acclaimed scholar, Jessica B. Harris's High on the Hog fills an important gap in our culinary history.