01x04 - The Gullah Way

[bunniefuu]

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

[SOFT DRAMATIC MUSIC]

Wow.

♪ ♪

It's beautiful.

MICHAEL: This is where
the Gullah Geechee people

and the Gullah Geechee
culture was born.

PADMA:
Can you feel their spirits?

MICHAEL: Yeah.

We're surrounded by the energy.

Yeah.

I think they felt forgotten,

left behind.

I think they feel good when

they know that people
have come to honor them

and remember them.

[TWANGY GUITAR MUSIC]

PADMA: I came to
America when I was four.

I'm an immigrant,
and I'm not alone.

I've spent my life
writing about food

and tasting the world.

Now, I want to explore
who we are

through the food we eat.

My game is strong.

What exactly is American food?

And what makes us American?

I'm Padma Lakshmi.

Come with me
as we taste the nation.

DRIVER: Hup, hup, hup.

Good boy.

[MELLOW TWANGY MUSIC]

Gullah Geechee culture
and the people

that contributed a lot

not only
to the South Carolina culture,

but to United States culture,
period.

♪ ♪

That is who I am.
That's who my entire family is.

That's what the land is.
That's what we do.

That's how we live.

A large part
of what identifies

a Gullah Geechee community
seems to be our food ways.

MAN:
Let's sit your boy down, yeah?

Food is important to us
in Chuck town.

Get you on a red rice
on a plate.

You ain't getting
mac and cheese, boy.

You gotta wait. They got greens.

Beans, potatoes, tomatoes.

You could order
a banana pudding.

I'll get them later.

Seafood, rice,
got crab all in it.

If you order some scrub too, boy,
you know that you're winning.

Ay,
I'll be embracing that geech.

Embrace it.

[STOVE TICKING]

[MELLOW MUSIC]

PADMA:
The Gullah Geechee community

is one of the most
beautiful cultures

you may never have heard of.

They descend from West Africans

who were brought here
against their will

and enslaved
on southern plantations.

Today, almost 200,000
still live along the coast

from Northern Florida
up to North Carolina.

Many are here
in the Charleston area,

the unofficial capital
of the Gullah nation.

Out of the African diaspora,

the Gullah Geechee have one of
the strongest remaining holds

on their distinctive culture,

language, and food traditions.

But with increasing threats
to their way of life,

how do the Gullah maintain
their identity,

and how will they claim
their rightful place

in American history?

MICHAEL: Who am I?

I'm a Gullah Geechee descendant.

If you go back

eight generations my mother's‐‐
my mother's line,

you had a woman
born in Sierra Leone

and she was brought
to South Carolina,

one of the largest markets
for enslaved people.

Here, you have
all parts of that story.

This is 300‐something years
of sustained history

that often gets, you know, lost.

[PENSIVE MUSIC]

PADMA: James Beard
award‐winning writer Michael Twitty

is a gifted culinary historian

who preserves the stories
of his ancestors through food.

And this is where
those stories began

on plantations
just like Middleton Place.

This land that they cleared,
the openness that you see here

that's‐‐that's human beings.

Who did that?
MICHAEL: Who did this.

PADMA:
The dichotomy of the splendor

and the suffering.

You can't walk through
these pristine gardens

without acknowledging.

America's painful history
of sl*very,

and the atrocities
that Gullah people endured.

MICHAEL:
In the late 17th century or so,

Carolina was a backwater.

- PADMA: A swamp‐‐yeah, a marsh.
- This was‐‐this was swamp.

MICHAEL: No Englishman
knew what to do with this land.

PADMA: Yeah.

And then they decided
to start bringing in people.

"Let's bring in people
who know how to grow rice."

And this is where
my family comes in.

PADMA: West Africans from a
region called the "Rice Coast"

were targeted
for their knowledge

of cultivating
this difficult crop.

Forced into sl*ve labor
in bondage,

they turned treacherous swamps
into productive rice fields.

Is this what they would've found

if they had to turn an area
into a rice paddy?

MICHAEL: Probably even denser.

Lots of alligators.
Lots of diseases.

PADMA: Deadly. MICHAEL: Deadly.

PADMA: Despite
unimaginable suffering,

the Gullah Geechee were able
to retain their unique culture

and passed it down
for generations.

At the heart of it is rice.

MICHAEL:
It's always consumed communally.

It's not, "You get a plate,
I get a plate."

It's we as a family.

It's sitting at home together
and have that rice.

As they say in West Africa,

if you sit at my table and eat
with me, you'll know who I am.

♪ ♪

PADMA: So what are we putting
in this broth other than carrots?

MICHAEL: Little bit of onion.

Um, turnip. Tomato.

You know what, red rice

the recipe goes
all over the place.

You used what you had
when you had it,

and there was no such thing as,
"it's not authentic."

[PERCUSSIVE MUSIC]

PADMA: Red rice is a
cherished Gullah staple,

especially here in Charleston.

To honor its history,

Michael makes it exactly
as his ancestors would.

I mean, literally.

He cooks with traditional
recipes and tools.

PADMA: Ready? MICHAEL: Okay.

PADMA: Does this go in here now?

A pinch, my dear.

Not a whole ton.
PADMA: All right.

PADMA: Water, please.

You got that, Wonder Woman?
PADMA: Yes.

MICHAEL: [LAUGHS]

[MELLOW MUSIC]

Tell me about this rice.

MICHAEL:
So this is Carolina gold.

Now, pick that up quickly.

Show me your best
pounding skills.

All right.

MICHAEL: So‐‐
That breaks the rice though.

Yeah, so‐‐and when I did it
the first time, it did the same thing.

So let's look at it.

So some of the grains
are still whole, right?

PADMA: Some. MICHAEL: Some.

I'm good at fanning it. I'm
not good at pounding anything.

- So tell me more about that.
- [LAUGHS]

Your fanning experience.
I gotta know.

Well, in India,
when I would sit by my grandma,

We would throw the rice at‐‐
How was it different?

PADMA: Well, I don't know how to use
an African bat, but I know how to use...

Right, right,
right. PADMA: An Indian bat, you have to...

You wanna make sure that
before it got in that pot, it was clean.

PADMA: Yeah. ‐
Just... [CLICKS TEETH]

Like that sound
that you made, yep.

And catch it. Yep.

Oh, look at all that. Right?

- A lot of hollows fell off.
- Right?

Now here's
the other part though.

And I'm not gonna be able
to do this perfectly.

- PADMA: Okay.
- But I'll show you.

[RHYTHMIC THUNKING]

So of course, you're doing that

with your fellow‐‐your sister,

your cousin, in rhythm.

And as that rhythmic beat
is going on,

the children are gathering

and they're listening
and they're hearing,

and they're passing it down
from generation to generation.

This is where the syncopation
and call and response

and hip‐hop and jazz
and music comes from.

PADMA: The story of
America will be very different

without the Gullah Geechee.

In fact, you can still hear
the echo of their music.

And it was their labor
in the rice fields

that created
the wealth and prosperity

that helped the early
American economy grow.

Then there's the food.

You can trace a direct line

from modern southern
and soul food

back to Gullah cuisine.

But too often, the Gullah people

aren't given enough credit.

I don't think people
really understand

the contribution that Gullah
Geechee made to this country.

MICHAEL: No,
but I think there's only one part

of the story of enslavement.

But Gullah Geechee people

we gave our heart and soul
to this country.

And there's still these
tremendous challenges that we face.

Just talking about it,
excavating it,

and I know it's super painful,

but I think it's necessary.

It's part of
the healing process.

The thing about it is,
the culture happens

between the healing
and the hurt.

That's where our culture
has been made.

PADMA: Oh, yeah.

Now, do you want it to dry more,

or do you wanna
serve it like this?

It's wetter than usual, but...

Okay. It is what it is.

♪ ♪

PADMA: Our red rice
isn't as restaurant‐perfect

as we'd like, but that's
sometimes what you get

cooking outside
with 18th century pots.

All right.

- Cheers, man.
- All right, ma'am.

PADMA: What really
matters is how it tastes.

MICHAEL: Taste was there.

The flavors are amazing.

I mean, I know it's not dry
like you wanted it,

but it's, like, so good.

- MICHAEL: Mm‐hmm.
- It's so yummy and balanced.

I'm really sorry
you can't eat this.

[EXHALES]
I always [BLEEP] do that.

- MICHAEL: [CHUCKLES]
- I had three bites.

[EXHALES]

I'm gonna make it for my Nigerian
friends and see what they say.

Make it drier. [LAUGHS]

Now, there's no question about

asking Gullah Geechee people
how often we eat rice.

We could eat rice for
breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

WOMAN: My grandmother‐she always
had a pot of rice going on the stove.

We ate rice with every meal.

MAN: Shrimp and rice.
Wash the rice.

Eggs and rice.

Some people just plain
like it white rice

with the butter on them,
and thing like that.

Delicious. Oh, it's awesome.

[PERCUSSIVE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

MAN: Gullah Geechee
means eating off your land,

knowing where your food
comes from.

[GOAT BLEATS]

WOMAN: The culture
is tied to the land

being able to produce the food

that you know
is a part of your culture,

and our waterways are also
a very important part

of who we are and how we live.

♪ ♪

[SHEEPS BLEAT]

[MELLOW MUSIC]

[SHIP HORN BLARES]

♪ ♪

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

♪ ♪

Fast.

Gotta get‐‐
gotta get the breeze.

Breeze. [CHUCKLES]

PADMA: Oh,
the sweet smell of saltwater.

I'm here with Keith Smiley
and Jerrel Brown,

a father‐son crabbing team
with about 50 traps

around
the Charleston Sea Islands.

The Smileys have lived
and worked off these islands

for generations.

Let her try to help.

KEITH: [LAUGHS] PADMA: No.

That was on purpose, Smiley.

[LAUGHING] I wasn't trying
to jump overboard.

KEITH: I tell you what.
Take them.

KEITH: Take them right here.
PADMA: Mm‐hmm.

You put your hand right there.
Turn them over.

PADMA: Okay.
KEITH: There you go.

Keep on pouring.

PADMA: There we go.
JERREL: There you go.

PADMA: All right.
KEITH: [CHUCKLES]

Grab your fish.

PADMA: All right, here.

[BOAT WHIRS]

KEITH: All right.
JERREL: All right.

KEITH: Got a real crabber now.
PADMA: [LAUGHS]

KEITH: A real crabber!
JERREL: Real crabber!

- KEITH: Real crabber!
- It's messy, but it's fun.

[LAUGHTER] Yes.

KEITH: Good job.

[MELLOW GUITAR MUSIC]

♪ ♪

KEITH: At the time,
you gotta live off the water

and live off the land.

PADMA: Really? KEITH: Mm‐hmm.

PADMA: What's that like?

It's just a whole culture
of things from the land.

That's plums, okra,
hogs, everything.

Without going ever
to the store.

KEITH: Without even
going to the store.

PADMA: We should all
experience food this way

eating what you can
catch and harvest,

relying on nothing more
than your own two hands

and the bounty of your land.

But these days, living the Gullah
way is getting harder and harder.

How has this place changed?

KEITH:
Well, in the last 10 years,

been a lot of changes,
even with the crab.

We used to catch, like,

a bushel of crab for one trap.

How much is that?

KEITH:
Mmm, about a half a bushel.

And I done pulled about, what,

five or six?

That's a big change. Yeah.

[BOAT WHIRS]

KEITH: Even the heat we
have this year is different.

It's hot.

JERREL:
The water is getting hot,

so it's actually
k*lling the fish.

PADMA: 'Cause it's too warm? JERREL: Yeah,
'cause it's too warm.

PADMA: A warming ocean,
rising sea levels,

increasing severe storms

these tidal and barrier islands

are especially vulnerable to
the changes in the environment.

And what threatens their land
endangers their way of life.

What does it mean to a culture
like the Gullah Geechee

when they live off the land
and you have less crab,

less fishing‐‐
how are they dealing with it?

KEITH: [CHUCKLES]
JERREL: One day at a time.

That's it.

[SOMBER MUSIC]

♪ ♪

PADMA: For the Gullah Geechee,
land is invaluable,

passed down in the family
for hundreds of years.

But beyond climate change
is the pressing problem

of G*ntrification.

Much of their ancestral land
is primed waterfront property

in a region
bustling with tourism.

Soaring taxes and new residents

are pushing
the Gullah Geechee out.

With increasing land loss,

many are concerned that the
culture is in danger of disappearing.

But they're fighting back
with a spirit

that continues to overcome
so much.

PADMA: Look what I got for you.

Ooh, yes, lay them right here.

BJ: That's cool.
PADMA: Look at that big one.

PADMA: [SQUEALS]
BJ: They lively, huh?

PADMA: They are.
They're really fresh.

BJ: Hey. [MUMBLING]

Whew.

Oh, yeah. That's a rusty...

Has to be nice and meaty.

PADMA: My dear friend BJ Dennis

is arguably one of the most
prominent Gullah chefs around.

He's classically trained
and works as a caterer.

He's made me
some unbelievable meals.

Getting that water started here.

- PADMA: All right.
- I haven't gotten anything
in yet.

PADMA:
BJ is a voice for his people

and wants Gullah cuisine
to finally be recognized

for its immense contribution
to American food.

A lot of people know about
"low country boil,"

but if you talk to a person
from the low country,

he'll say, "Don't call that
low country boil.

Call it Frogmore stew."

Now that would've had
the crab with the shrimp

and the sausage
and the corn in it.

What this is,
is a simple crab boil.

So...

Tell me what to do.
I'll be your sous chef.

It all depends on the cook
and what you got at your house.

Okay, what's in your house
right now?

Well, we got some of, um,
local crab seasoning.

What's in there? BJ: It's
like a salt seasoning blend.

It's a little spicy.
It has garlic in here.

- Is it yours or is it Old Bay?
- It's not Old Bay.

- Okay, good.
- It's a Charleston special.

Now, you go
to Charleston crab houses,

um, seafood houses,
you'll see this there.

And I made this morning

some fresh pepper sauce
with this puree

with Charleston cayennes,
which is indigenous to here,

and some celery and some other
things in there.

PADMA: This is beautiful.

[MELLOW ELECTRONIC MUSIC]

BJ: This is something that
somebody probably doing right now.

They, uh, sitting back,

drinking some beers
and just had a crab trap.

Little ginger.
Little smashed garlic.

- This'll clear you right up.
- Whew.

BJ: I'ma do a
little splash of that.

PADMA: Go ahead. Be liberal.

♪ ♪

I didn't grow up
eating a lot of...

Meat? Animals.

But seafood is key.
PADMA: Seafood is Gullah.

BJ: Oh, yes, you know,
shrimp, crab, fish.

It smells good. [INHALES]

I smell the hot peppers too.

All right, let's dump
these crabs in here.

[GRITTY GUITAR MUSIC]

I think that, you know,

everything that
the American cuisine is today

is because all these different people
and different cultures contributed to it.

So what do you think

the Gullah contributions
to American cuisine are about?

I think it's the base of a lot
of what we love in this country.

- You like shrimp and grits?
- Yes.

- I love shrimp and grits.
- There you go.

We have one right there.
Leafy greens.

You know, that was big
with West Africans.

I mean, gumbo. Yeah.

Is there
any special technique?

To...

- To Gullah cuisine?
- Lot of love.

I think it's all about the hand
and how you feel and like how

the freshness
of the ingredients too.

I always‐‐
that's the key difference.

The garden was always the
centerpiece of the Gullah Geechee culture.

Make sure you had vegetables.

PADMA: Very
vegetable‐forwards. BJ: Yes.

My parents grew up
living off the farm.

I mean, that was survival
for them.

PADMA: It sounds like this
original farm‐to‐table cuisine.

BJ: Yeah.
PADMA: You're using what you can

from your bounty, and fresh.

What else could it be
but farm‐to‐table?

At its purest form.

So this crab's looking
about ready there, Padma.

I love to give
a little love shake on them

while they coming out like that.

[LAUGHING]
It's still holding on.

PADMA: That's beautiful.
BJ: I'm sprinkle‐‐.

This is just my touch.

You want a little bit of that
seasoning on your fingers

when you start
breaking in the crab

so you get a little...
[SMACKS LIPS]

- That's why you put it on top?
- Yeah.

PADMA: That's getting good.

All right,
what is the technique,

and what is the secret

to getting as much meat
out as you can?

I always make a mess
and get very little.

Right. We just crack it.

[SHELL CRACKS] That's the claws.

PADMA: So I just bite this?

BJ:
Well, I would bite right here.

PADMA: Okay.

[SHELL CRACKS] Ah.

Yep, ever graceful. That's me.

[LAUGHS]

I shattered the whole thing.

I didn't make a clean break.

Mmm, I would eat these all day.

BJ: You just crack
the little, uh, shavers.

PADMA: So sweet.

This is good. BJ: Mm‐hmm.

PADMA: So let's save some
of this meat for the crab rice.

BJ: Crab rice, yes. PADMA: Okay.

[EXCLAIMS, LAUGHS]

- It works every time with you.
- [LAUGHS]

[MELLOW MUSIC]

♪ ♪

[PAN SIZZLING]

PADMA: These days,
many Gullah families

have given in
to the pull of convenience

and turned away from their
traditions of living off the land.

It may not seem like a big deal,

but over time,
you risk losing your culture.

Living off the land here

and doing everything
the old‐fashioned way

may be a little hard.

Do you think Gullah Geechee
cuisine is dying?

So living off the land
and farming

it's kinda went
to the back side.

That's part of my journey,
is bringing back these things

and grow your own okra again,
different varieties,

and get back to rolling rice,
so bringing back our culture,

for me, is we're bringing back
the true essence of the cuisine.

But there is a renaissance,
and we're still strong.

We're still fighting.

We still have land.
We still have farms.

We're not dying.

Mm‐mm.
This is a culture that's here.

[MELLOW GUITAR MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Uh‐oh. One's crawling.

MAN: A lot of time,
when we eating food,

we gonna say that food bussin.

Bussin means the food is
really, really, really good.

For example, "Hey,
that red rice and [INDISTINCT]

had me like,
'Yo, that thing be bussin.'"

MAN: Bussin. WOMAN: [INDISTINCT]

So what is a crab crack?

KEITH: Let me show you.
PADMA: All right.

[SHELL CRACKS]
KEITH: Crab crack.

[LAUGHTER] MONALISA:
Don't pay him no attention.

Anyway, when you go
to a crab crack...

PADMA: Yeah?

They put all the crab
on the table.

PADMA: Should I do it?
WOMAN: Yeah.

[OVERLAPPING CHATTER]
Let's take the crab out.

[MELLOW MUSIC]

PADMA:
Joining us in cracking crab

are Keith Smiley's wife
Monalisa,

and BJ Dennis' cousin,
Jessica Berry.

This is delicious, BJ.
This is so good.

JESSICA: So soft.
BJ: Thanks, man.

Oh, yeah, that rice is good.
JESSICA: Oh, man, I can't wait.

[MUMBLING] Thank you.

PADMA: Food is identity here,

and so is their language,

an oral tradition
they're fighting to preserve.

Black people, you know,
when they hear us speak,

they think,
"Y'all from Jamaica?"

We just‐‐it's almost
like a sing‐song.

Yes,
but it be something like...

Wow.
MONALISA: Wow, you got it.

PADMA: So what is the origin of
the actual Gullah Geechee language?

JESSICA: So the enslaved Africans
who were brought onto these islands‐,

and none of them spoke
the same language.

And so what was developed
was the blended language,

mixed with the English that we
were hearing on the plantation

and the Creole language
that we know as Gullah.

PADMA: Their language
is such a beautiful way

to unify the community
and keep the culture alive.

But throughout history,

it's been mischaracterized
as broken English.

You know, okay, for instance,
Charleston people coming up.

"Street, strawberry."

But we don't know that because
when we came from West Africa,

West African languages,
there's no "tuh," T.

No, "tuh‐tuh,"
so when people came over,

they say, "screet, scrawberry."

We didn't learn the culture
behind it.

PADMA: And the history.
JESSICA: And the history.

Then you‐‐
then it gets ignorant.

Right, like, like, like,
"You‐‐you're dumb."

Backward. JESSICA: Yes.

Now, you told my mama and
daddy they was "geechee,"

I was gonna fight.
[ALL CHUCKLING]

PADMA: So it was a slur?
JESSICA: It was a slur.

If you say "geechee,"
that was a slur.

[TENDER MUSIC]

And so people never claimed it.

It wasn't, like, something
that you were proud of

at least my mom, my grandma.

They would‐‐they weren't pro‐‐
they didn't talk about that.

Yeah.

PADMA: To avoid
further discrimination,

many Gullah people have been
reluctant to pass on the language.

Now it's mostly spoken
by community elders,

but there's a movement
to revive it.

And you got, like, people
doing Instagram, and face

we got social media
putting it out there now.

So it's educating the kids that,

"Look, you do speak a language.
It is a language."

Then they begin to celebrate it.

And they like it.
JESSICA: And they like it.

It's not‐‐the younger
generation is now proud to say,

"I Geechee."

[PENSIVE ELECTRONIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Our mission here
at Geechee Experience

is to promote and celebrate
our language and culture

utilizing technology.

People who once were ashamed

of being Geechee
or speaking Geechee

now they speaking Geechee
in public.

They speaking Geechee
in the schools.

They speaking Geechee
at they jobs.

♪ ♪

SARA': All right,
who's doing the water?

You can fill this up with water.

[GIRL MUMBLING INDISTINCTLY]

Remember, two tablespoons
of fish emulsion.

PADMA:
Here on St. Helena Island,

Sara' Reynolds Green
grows organic produce

the way her Gullah Geechee
elders taught her.

SARA':
Who's gonna drop the plants?

GIRL: I will.

PADMA: Her family has survived

off this plot of land
for generations,

and now locals as young as five

come here to soak up
her knowledge

and bring home the bounty
of what they grow.

SARA': You know,
you wanna get the 45‐degree angle.

There you go.

'Cause their legs
are pretty long,

so we need it deeper...

- So we can put more of those.
- Not the whole thing.

Hello. SARA': Hi, there.

Hi. Hello.

PADMA: How's it going?
GIRL: Good.

PADMA: Are you planting okra?
GIRL: Yeah.

PADMA: How do you plant okra?

So we have these.
We dig a hole into it.

And then we put water in it.

GIRL: And then‐SARA': Water?

GIRL: Well,
do we this fish emulsion and water.

Why fish emulsion?

Because it helps
the plants grow more.

It's basically fish poop.

[LAUGHTER]

GIRL: There's more
right here you can do.

[GRUNTS] Can I have a little
bit of emulsion right here?

Why is it so important for you

to pass down
this Gullah culture?

The culture is not taught
in the schools.

At all? At all.

I mean, in the history books,
you may have

if it's a paragraph
about Gullah people.

That's it? That's it.

So I said, you know,
we've got to do something.

You know how to do it.
GIRL: Don't make it deeper.

GIRL: What are you doing?
SARA': Uh‐uh, no.

Love and kindness.
Love and kindness.

PADMA:
Do the children understand

that this is how
their ancestors farmed?

Yes, and it's still a work in
progress to get them to understand

how important that is
that they're learning,

but they've got to learn
the history.

PADMA: And I think that those

those things about their culture

are part of what made
this country succeed.

Yes, just for them
to understand that

lifts that self‐esteem.

♪ ♪

PADMA: Let's go over
to the okra field, guys.

That is a huge one.
Do you just pluck it like that?

SARA': Yes, and this

see, this must be plucked high.

PADMA: Okay.
SARA': And drop that there.

Wait, wait, wait.

PADMA: There we go, all right.
SARA': There you go.

- So can you eat these raw?
- Yes.

- Can I eat this one? Is this a good one?
- Sure, mm‐hmm.

[OKRAS CRUNCHING] Mmm.

It's good.

I remember this taste
from when I was their age.

'Cause my grandma
made okra all the time.

You're saying you farm just
like your mother taught you.

Yes, I did.

And I'm sure her mother,
grandmother...

Her mother taught her.
Exactly.

And, um, my great‐grandfather
was a farmer,

and he purchased
that 20 acres of land

between 1863 and 1865.

PADMA: So right after...

The emancipation.

PADMA: After emancipation,

rice production
wasn't as profitable

without enslaved labor,

and many plantation owners
decided to sell their farms.

The formerly enslaved
Gullah Geechee

were able to buy the land

they had once worked in bondage.

As free people,
they started over

with nothing more
than their spirit,

their knowledge, and this land.

Our ancestors‐oh, my gosh.

These people were amazing.

- PADMA: What they did?
- What they did with what‐‐
with so little.

- PADMA: With nothing, really.
- Yeah, with nothing.

No one knew
how to read or write,

but they had an intellect.

They had knowledge of rowing
and farming and fishing

everything that there is
to be self‐sufficient.

PADMA: They had their
own body of education.

SARA': Yes.

PADMA: This family
land is filled with history.

It's holy and precious
and can never be replaced.

It's why the Gullah Geechee
fight so hard to protect it.

We've got to keep
this place alive

because that's all they had,
was to give us some land.

- And that was very hard‐won.
- That was hard‐won, yes.

[EXCITING PERCUSSIVE
MUSIC PLAYING]

♪ ♪

[GIRL SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]

♪ ♪

[UPBEAT PERCUSSIVE MUSIC]

BILL: If I cook a lima beans,
I wanna taste like lima beans.

If I cook an okra,
I want them to taste like okra.

I don't want nothing different.
I want that real consistency.

And so that's the way
I learned how to cook,

and now I teaching that
to the kids.

You're teaching it
to me too today.

- Oh, yes, ma'am.
- I'm really excited to learn.

This is Bill Green,
Sara's husband.

Mr. Bill? BILL: Yeah?

They waiting for you now
to finish this up.

PADMA: A Gullah Geechee
power couple through and through.

The food the children grow
at Sara's farm

is what supplies Bill's kitchen

here at Gullah Grub.

It's a restaurant, sure,
but really,

it's the cultural heart
of St. Helena Island

where the kids come
for cooking classes.

They learn how to prepare
farm‐grown food the Gullah way,

so their traditions can live on.

- So that pan is getting hot.
- Ah, and hot.

- Put the oil.
- I need to go over
with my oil.

PADMA: And then you tell me
when you're ready for the onions.

BILL: All right,
ready for the onion.

PADMA: But that's for gumbo,
right? BILL: Mm‐hmm.

All right, it should
brown them up real quick.

[FUNKY MUSIC]

PADMA:
Gullah Geechee shrimp gumbo

is a West African‐style
one‐pot stew

made with a savory tomato base.

Unlike other southern varieties,

Gullah gumbo is thickened
with fresh‐picked okra

instead of filé or roux.

So this is homemade
garlic powder.

Why do you use garlic powder
and not real garlic?

You used to go‐‐
you go around all or most

of your Gullah people, houses,

and you see they got onion,
your garlic,

everything hanging up.

Mm‐hmm. Until it dry.

And when it dry, they crush it.

PADMA: You're telling
me that the old Gullah way...

PADMA: Is to dry it yourself?
BILL: Yeah.

PADMA: To make a dehydrated
powder? BILL: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[ROUSING STRING MUSIC]

♪ ♪

PADMA: You've dedicated
your life to passing on

this kind of
farm‐to‐table true...

BILL: Right. PADMA: Cuisine.

BILL: That's right. Gullah
people‐that's their way.

PADMA: Like Sara',
what Bill knows, he shares,

passing on the values that
shape the core of their people.

BILL: First thing they
learn coming in to me,

uh, they got to learn
love and kindness.

'Cause you got to have that.

And then, man, understanding
and wisdom come right behind.

Once they get them three things,
all them other stuff come.

Love and kindness‐‐
you can't beat it.

[GRITTY GUITAR MUSIC]

♪ ♪

You're giving these kids
knowledge of food and health,

but you're also teaching them
a profession.

- Right.
- As well as love and kindness.

That's the deal.

Real deal. You got them.

All right, let me give some
love and kindness to this gumbo.

♪ ♪

Go ahead, yeah. Just one ladle.

So cool, it's easy.

Mmm.

That's good. BILL: [LAUGHS]

This okra is cooked perfectly,

and I'm pretty snobby
about my okra.

- All right!
- Yeah, it's not slimy.

It has flavor.
It's not disintegrated.

Yeah. It's delicious.

The longer that I see you
smile, I know everything good.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Everybody look here.

Oh. [LAUGHTER]

[SHUTTER CLICKING]

PADMA: Hi. GIRL: Hi.

PADMA: Nice to meet you.

From West Africa to Charleston,

this is a rich
and special heritage,

a culture of sharing,

a unique dialect,

sea and farm‐to‐table
traditions,

a savory rice‐based cuisine.

Mmm. It has so much flavor.

The Gullah people don't often
get the recognition,

but they are the backbone
of the American south.

It's music and food.

Their traditional ways have
been safeguarded for centuries.

Modern life presents new
challenges to the community.

Today, the Gullah Geechee
are reclaiming their culture.

The more of you can join us
in doing what we do,

the more little hearts
and minds we will touch.

PADMA: And they
aren't going anywhere.

I'm sure you spent a lot of time

giving counsel
to all your students

about having pride,
about exploring their history.

What would you say to every
young African American

if they were watching you now?

SARA': Probably say,
"You are great."

You came from greatness,

and you will leave here
from greatness

because it never leaves you.

It's in your DNA.