美国国家公共电台 NPR This Historian Wants You To Know The Real Story Of Southern Food

This Historian Wants You To Know The Real Story Of Southern Food

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0004:38repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

Michael Twitty's a culinary historian and chef who's on a mission to tell you where Southern food really comes from. He wants the slaves who were part of its creation to get credit. And that's why chef Twitty goes to places like Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia and cooks meals that slaves would've eaten. Reporter Erika Beras met him there.

ERIKA BERAS, BYLINE²: Chef Michael Twitty's standing³ behind a wooden table at Monticello's Mulberry Row, where hundreds of slaves lived and worked. Dozens of people are watching him.

MICHAEL TWITTY: This is what we're going to cook up today, rabbit.

(LAUGHTER)

TWITTY: Look, it's better than chicken.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Oh, yes it is.

TWITTY: It's better than white-meat chicken. Yup.

BERAS: Twitty is a big guy. He loves to eat. He loves history. And he loves to talk. He's moving back and forth⁴ between the table and iron skillets over an open fire. His cooking instructions are not complicated.

TWITTY: Well, guess what? The technique is I season it. I cook it. And it's done.

(LAUGHTER)

BERAS: Today's meal is kitchen-pepper rabbit with hominy and okra soup. He shows us some okra that's past its prime.

TWITTY: I don't care what they tell you on the playground - bad okra.

(LAUGHTER)

BERAS: Michael Twitty recreates the meals slaves would've made on plantations⁵ with 18th-century tools and ingredients, some of which we eat today. Think leafy greens and black-eyed peas.

(SOUNDBITE OF COOKING)

TWITTY: Rabbit's doing good. Oh, that's good.

BERAS: At Monticello, his presentation is part cooking show and part history lesson. Like, what would happen if a slave ate the master's food?

TWITTY: You got the present of wearing an iron mask for several weeks until you learned that that food did not belong to you.

BERAS: Michael Twitty is black, Jewish and gay. He writes about all of those things. His mission is to explain where American food traditions come from. He says little is documented about what slaves ate - just a line here and a line there.

TWITTY: There was no sense of their personal stories, no sense of their familial ties, no sense of their personal likes or dislikes. It was just straight-up, you know, a very bland⁶, neutral, you know, version of history.

BERAS: He holds up a hot pepper.

TWITTY: If I tell you to put this in some vinegar and put it on the table, how many of you are going to reach for it?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Oh, absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: That's Tabasco.

TWITTY: Exactly.

BERAS: Historian Christa Dierksheide says there's a newfound willingness to talk about slavery at Monticello.

CHRISTA DIERKSHEIDE: It's really been in the past few years that people come here, and they say, wow, what did the slaves eat? Did they grow their own produce? Did Jefferson give them food?

BERAS: People who may not feel comfortable talking about slavery feel OK talking about sweet potatoes and ham hocks.

DIERKSHEIDE: Food is such a great equalizer. And it - you know, everybody has some kind of food tradition in their family. And to talk about what that tradition or culture was among African-Americans, I think, is a way for us to try and understand the lives of enslaved people in a more holistic⁷ way.

BERAS: Slaves combined food from Africa with local ingredients. Okra's from Africa. Hominy is from the Americas. At Monticello, because of Jefferson's years in Paris, European cuisine⁸ was thrown in the mix.

Macaroni pie or, as we know it, macaroni and cheese was popularized here by his cook, who had gone to Paris with him. Michael Twitty's visit to Monticello touched visitors like Cassandra Rockward O'Saben. She and her son, Isaac, were on a tour when they stumbled upon him.

CASSANDRA ROCKWARD O'SABEN: He made me cry when he looked me in my eyes. And he said, I wanted you to be able to bring your son here. And when you leave here, you both hold your head up because you're a part of the American fabric⁹. You're part of American society. You helped to build this country.

ISAAC: I thought he was kind of - he was kind of funny. And yeah, he kind of make me laugh. Yeah. But I was touched too, Mom.

BERAS: That's what Michael Twitty is after. But for him, reviving slave culture is also an act of defiance¹⁰.

TWITTY: I think it's like, you know, the equivalent of, you know, having a, you know - you know, I'm Jewish, so I guess I could say this - you know, having a bar mitzvah at Auschwitz. You know, why not?

BERAS: In other words, he says, why not take the place where oppression was practiced and turn it into an occasion for education and celebration?

For NPR News, I'm Erika Beras.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

5 plantations   

n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园，使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后，那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句

6 bland   

adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的

参考例句：

• He eats bland food because of his stomach trouble.他因胃病而吃清淡的食物。
• This soup is too bland for me.这汤我喝起来偏淡。

7 holistic   

adj.从整体着眼的，全面的

参考例句：

• There is a fundamental ambiguity in the use of word "whole" in recent holistic literature.在近代的整体主义著作中，“整体”这个词的用法极其含混。
• In so far as historicism is technological,its approach is not piecemeal,but "holistic".仅就历史决定论是一种技术而论，它的方法不是渐进的，而是“整体主义的”。

8 cuisine   

n.烹调，烹饪法

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• This restaurant is renowned for its cuisine.这家餐馆以其精美的饭菜而闻名。

9 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

10 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。