Our common nature is a musical journey with Yo-Yo Ma and me, Ana Gonzalez, through this complicated country.

We go into caves, onto boats, and up mountain trails to meet people, hear their stories, their poetry, and of course, play some music, all to reconnect to nature and get closer to the things we're missing.

Listen to Our Common Nature from WNYC, wherever you get podcasts.

It's the splendid table from APM, American Public Media.

I'm Lynne Rosetta Casper.

So where do those aha moments of culinary discovery come from?

For chef Sean Brock, who's famous for reviving lost flavors of the South,

sometimes it's a combo of disappointment and stubborn curiosity.

I had the lesson of my life over a bowl of Hopping John,

and I didn't even know what was happening. It was in the late 90s, and I of Hopping John, and I didn't even know it was happening.

It was in the late 90s, and I was in culinary school, and I'd read so much about this dish from these old 19th century books, and I just kept seeing Hopin John everywhere.

And my first experience, eating Hopin John, wasn't the greatest.

It took years and years and years for me to figure out why exactly that happened.

And that's because the products weren't available.

The rice wasn't available.

The peas weren't available.

Sean Brock on the true flavors of the South, this hour on a splendid table. Table.

This is the Splendid Table from APM, American Public Media, the show for people who love to eat.

I'm Lynne Rosetta Casper.

It was pork fat that brought chef Sean Brock and me together. It was in Nashville. A hotel chef was assigned my six-course meal of pork fat dishes.

Part of the presentation for a group of pork scientists.

Now, hotel cooks usually don't thrill to these oddball assignments, but I lucked out with

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