Best of: Chef Mashama Bailey on reclaiming African-American food

Life and Art from FT Weekend

Forhecz Topher

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture

4.6 • 601 Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week Lilah goes to Savannah, Georgia, to visit chef Mashama Bailey. In 2022, Mashama won Outstanding Chef at the James Beard Awards. Since 2014, she has been chef and partner at The Grey, a restaurant located in a formerly segregated bus station. And she has been redefining American food by reclaiming its African-American roots. But because so much of this history hasn't been documented, how do you find and preserve it, and also expand on it? Mashama explains her creative process. We also speak with Stephen Satterfield, host of the Netflix docuseries High on the Hog. Stephen is the founder of Whetstone Media, which is dedicated to tracing food stories back to their roots of origin.

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Want to say hi? We love hearing from you. We’re on Twitter @ftweekendpod, and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap.

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Links and mentions from the episode:

– Lilah’s written piece on Mashama in the FT Magazine: https://on.ft.com/3I8v4br

– Mashama and her business partner John O Morisano’s memoir about The Grey is called Black, White, and the Grey

– Stephen is the founder of Whetstone Magazine and Whetstone Media. You can learn more at https://www.whetstonemagazine.com/

– Whetstone Radio Collective has a suite of podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/channel/whetstone-radio/id6442689915

– Stephen’s Peabody-winning Netflix docuseries is called High on the Hog

– Dr Jessica B Harris’s seminal book on African-American food history is called High on the Hog: a Culinary Journey from Africa to America

– Edna Lewis is considered the first lady of Southern cooking. Her groundbreaking cookbook, published in 1976, is called The Taste of Country Cooking

– Lilah also recommends Bryant Terry's 2021 cookbook Black Food, and the work of Michael W Twitty. Michael is on Instagram at @thecookinggene and has an excellent Masterclass session on tracing your roots through food

– Mashama is on Instagram at @mashamabailey. Stephen is at @isawstephen

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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, F2 Weekend listeners.
0:02.5	I'm Lulu, a producer on this show.
0:05.0	This week, Lila's away,
0:06.4	so we're bringing you one of our favorite episodes from The Archive.
0:09.9	It's a conversation between Lila and Meshama Bailey,
0:13.3	last year's James Beard chef of the year,
0:15.7	at her restaurant, The Grey, in Georgia.
0:18.2	Enjoy the episode.
0:19.6	Lila will be back next week.
0:35.1	It's March, and I'm in Savannah, Georgia, outside of the famed restaurant, The Grey.
0:40.4	The managing partner, Jono Morissano, is showing me around.
0:43.7	One of the first things we wanted to do was put the facade back to what it was,
0:47.6	except that no one makes vitrolyte anymore.
0:50.7	John's white.
0:51.6	He's got a handlebar mustache and glasses and tattoos.
0:55.5	He looks like a hipster from New York, which he is.
0:59.3	From the street, the building looks like a vintage diner with shiny, curved windows.
1:05.2	And this was a segregated lunch counter called the Union News Cafe.
1:10.6	We walked through the doors and pass the kitchen on the right.
1:13.9	Then the restaurant opens into a beautiful, high-ceilinged Art Deco dining room.
1:19.7	Its centerpiece is a sunken, curved, eat-at bar.
1:23.6	It feels grand.
	...

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