01x07 - The Original Americans

[bunniefuu]

[CHIMES CLINKING]

[FIRE CRACKLING]

FELICIA: We're going to
be making a tea with this.

This plant is so potent,

that we only need about this
much for that whole pot.

PADMA: Oh, okay.
FELICIA: Actually what you have.

Well, how do you know what's
poisonous and what's not?

[MELLOW MUSIC]

FELICIA: I would say most
of the desert is pretty edible.

And some things are edible,
but they're medicinal.

As well.

And‐‐well, medicinal in that
we won't be making that tea today.

Okay‐‐oh. [LAUGHS]

Okay. [LAUGHS]

Maybe we can make it later.

FELICIA: [LAUGHS]

[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.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

♪ ♪

Almost all the food
we eat today in the US

originated somewhere else.

It's a melding pot of cuisines

brought here by immigrants
from around the world.

So what was here first?

I'm in Phoenix to explore the
cuisine of the indigenous

the Native Americans.

What do they eat,
and why don't most of us really know?

If you ask around,

many believe fry bread is
classic Native American food.

WOMAN: Fried bread in Apache,
we say

[SPEAKS IN NATIVE LANGUAGE]

Means, "cooked in oil."

WOMAN: Fried bread
is not traditional food.

When you ask me about
traditional food,

I'm like, acorn stew, beans,
deer meat, stuff like that.

Can I have a Navajo taco?

[OIL SIZZLING]

So it's "nah‐vuh‐h*,"
not "naw‐vuh‐h*?"

- Yeah, "nah‐vuh‐h*."
- That's good.

- [LAUGHS] Yeah.
- I learned something today.

Andi Murphy
is a Navajo podcaster

who speaks with indigenous
chefs and farmers

about food sovereignty.

And what exactly is sovereignty?

In the simplest terms,

it means freedom
from outside control.

Without this type
of independence,

the indigenous population
could disappear altogether.

ANDI: In Native America,
we struggle a lot

with access to healthy food.

And I think right now,
what we're focusing on is

creating that access
and that reconnection

with ourselves first
and our original food

because it's our food.

PADMA: So do I just
literally eat this like a taco?

ANDI:
Yeah, it's a little bit messy.

Mmm.

It is delicious!

How could it not be delicious?

- Right?
- It's carbs that are fried.

- [LAUGHS]
- My two favorite things.

ANDI: Yeah,
and a lot of people on my podcast

talk about indigenous food
as being connected to our DNA,

being spiritually connected
to indigenous food.

This has
a short 100‐year history.

And it's a very
painful history, right?

Yeah, exactly.

The reservation systems
back when they were created

in the late 1800s

they were literally
prison camps.

PADMA: While fry
bread is a staple for many,

its true origins come from
some of the darkest pages

of America history

the genocide
of Native Americans.

[PENSIVE MUSIC]

A violent migration ensued
during the 1800s

when European settlers
forced natives

off their ancestral lands.

Atrocities such as the
Trail of Tears from the east

and the Long Walk in the
southwest k*lled thousands.

Once removed from their
homelands and put on to reservations,

all of their native
food sources like vegetables,

fruits, and wild game were gone.

Settlers gave them
European‐style rations to survive.

And this is how fry bread
was born.

ANDI: It's not indigenous.

It's made with flour,
salt, baking powder,

lard or shortening

ingredients that were
pretty much forced on us.

PADMA: Native Americans
want independence

not only over their lands,

but also over their food
and where it comes from.

For the past century,

the indigenous have been
eating a heavy diet

government‐supplied
commodity foods

that are often high in fat,
sugar, and sodium.

This change
in their food consumption

for more than a century has
had lasting health effects.

Native Americans are twice as likely
to be obese than any other minority.

Native American are diagnosed
with diabetes

at almost three times the rate
of any other ethnic group.

Arizona has the highest rate
in the nation

for Native Americans
who are overweight or obese.

Advocates said they were not
surprised by the numbers,

pointing to an unavailability
of fresh and healthy food.

PADMA: So how can indigenous
people reclaim their food identity,

as well as find
a path to sovereignty?

WOMAN: Sovereignty means power.

It means independence.

It means that you don't
have to rely on anybody.

PADMA: This land is
what they used to live off of.

The food here is plentiful...

[BIRD CAWS]

If you know how to find it.

[PERCUSSIVE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

[VOCALIZING]

PADMA: In native culture,

drums can represent the
beating heart of the Earth.

[ALL VOCALIZING]

♪ ♪

And this Earth is where
their food came from long ago.

♪ ♪

It's the foundation
of what was stolen from them.

Were you born on this land?

TWILA: Yeah, I was born here.

I was born and raised here. I lived
out on the other side of that mesa.

PADMA: Mm‐hmm.

Apache native Twila Cassadore

has lived here
for most of her life.

She's a seed carrier and forager

using traditional skills
passed down by her ancestors.

Tell me what all grows here
in this region.

TWILA: Okay, there's mesquite,
and it'll come out in the springtime.

You have the prickly pear,
hosh niteelí.

It has a really wonderful fruit
that grows during the summer.

You got a lot of roots in here.

So right now we're gonna go after
one of the onions that are up right now.

PADMA:
How many onions grow here?

TWILA: There are
four different species.

They grow at different times.

Which is great so
you'll always have an onion.

A variety.

PADMA: I've never
hunted for an onion before.

TWILA: There's one here.
PADMA: Oh!

So you dig a hole around it?

TWILA: Just be careful
not to break the top.

PADMA: You really learn to
appreciate that onion, boy, I tell you.

Wow.

Smells good.

It's actually quite as‐‐
like, a gentle onion.

TWILA: Yeah.
PADMA: It's not very sulfuric.

And how long has this been
a reservation, San Carlos?

TWILA: I think‐‐I believe it started
in 1870s? PADMA: Mm‐hmm.

TWILA: We're, like, the last people put on
the reservations throughout all of America.

PADMA: Okay.

Okay, you see between
the two valleys?

PADMA: Mm‐hmm. TWILA: Can
you see a road‐like, a light road?

PADMA: Yeah, mm‐hmm.
TWILA: Okay.

There's 40 acres below that.

And that's where
the reservation was.

It was actually 40 acres,
so we call it 40 Acres of Hell.

PADMA: What she's talking about

is a time when Apache tribes
were relocated

from where they lived
and hunted for centuries

to a small area
of only 40 acres.

They weren't even
granted citizenship

until 1924.

People that left 40 acres
were k*lled.

- Ah.
- Yeah, it was just a prison.

So you had nowhere to hunt.

Is that what they call, like,
the first concentration camp?

Mm‐hmm.

It's horrible.

[SOFT GUITAR MUSIC]

Life here has improved,

but problems still persist.

There is a lot of alcoholism
and drug addiction.

Why do you think
it's so rampant here?

It's hopelessness.

You come here and it's very hard

for a person to break away
from that cycle.

PADMA: When Twila was younger,

her life veered down
a path of addiction.

How long were you using?

About 20 years,
a little more than 20 years.

And now, how long
have you not been using?



June, yeah.
PADMA: That's great.

It was just having
a young lady tell me,

"You're just wasting your life."

And it took me a long time to
really look at myself and say,

"I feel empty.

There's a part of me
that's empty."

But when I was out there
foraging,

it started
filling that emptiness.

You felt whole again. Yeah.

I felt loved.
Actually, I felt loved.

♪ ♪

There's so much healthy food
out here

that's better for you than
what's in that marketplace.

PADMA: So literally,
the food can heal you. TWILA: Yes.

PADMA: It can connect you
to the Earth,

and when I think
of Native Americans,

I think of them as a very
connected‐to‐the‐Earth people.

[GASPS]

This is beautiful.

Okay, so how do we retrieve
these without getting stuck?

TWILA:
So this is a barrel cactus.

And it has these large thorns
and you don't touch them.

But when this fruit is ready,

they'll nudge
and they'll come right off.

Wow.

So you gotta be very careful
not to let this poke you.

There you go.

They have a little bit
of a tomato‐ish taste.

Mm‐hmm.

This tastes like a bell pepper,
but lemon‐y.

TWILA: Mm‐hmm.

So we're gonna make a salsa
with it.

How cool.

And then we're gonna head back
and we're gonna start on our dish.

PADMA: How's my pack rat?

TWILA:
Oh, I gotta go check on that.

[LAUGHTER]

[MOUSE SQUEAKING]

PADMA:
Yeah, you heard me correctly.

I said pack rat.

TWILA: I don't want
you to see it yet.

PADMA: Why? TWILA: [LAUGHS]

PADMA: Why? Why don't
you want me to see it yet, Twila?

PADMA: Huh?
TWILA: It has fur on it.

PADMA: Oh!

It's one of the many
small game animals

that Twila hunts out here.

And I'd be lying
if I didn't admit

that eating a rodent
scares the sh*t out of me.

TWILA: Gluscho. We hunt gluscho.

PADMA: "Glus‐cho?"
How do you pronounce it?

TWILA: "Glus‐chuh."

PADMA: Glus... BOTH: Chuh.

PADMA: "Glus‐chuh."

♪ ♪

How long did you boil
the pack rat for?

TWILA: About 40 minutes.

When this is dead,
the tail falls off.

PADMA: Okay. TWILA: So
that's when you know this is dead.

Does it have fur on it?

Yes, it does. [GROANS]

Okay. [LAUGHTER]

TWILA: And then what
we're gonna do is glaze these

with agave and sumac.

[UPBEAT GUITAR MUSIC]

TWILA: We have some
barrel cactus for our salsa.

And then we're gonna start
dicing them up with the onions.

♪ ♪

PADMA:
Who taught you how to cook?

TWILA: My mother.

So a lot of this
is passed on from her,

as well as other people
that have lived the same way.

What is the first recipe she
taught you? Do you remember?

Onions. [LAUGHS]

PADMA: Now do you add salt to this?
TWILA: No, that's it.

Just get a little pinch
of this and just blend it in.

It's pretty good. Mm‐hmm.

You're right.
I don't miss the salt at all.

TWILA: This is your gluscho.

It actually means,
"a nest builder."

A nest builder? TWILA: Uh‐huh.

[GENTLE MUSIC]

This is my first rodent, you know.
TWILA: [LAUGHS]

I've eaten a lot of funky things
in my life, Twila, but never

all right, I'm going for it.

♪ ♪

What does it taste like
to you?

Tastes like chicken.
[LAUGHTER]

This is real America.

Like, when they talk about
American food...

Mm‐hmm.

All that stuff
is not American food.

I'm going around the country

and I'm looking
at all these different

immigrant communities
and looking at their food,

but it was so important for me
today to come here to visit you

because this is actually
the original,

OG American food.

- [LAUGHS] Yes, it is.
- You know?

So then, is your food
the ticket to your sovereignty?

I believe it is.

PADMA: I gotta admit.

All morning, I was trying
to get up the gumption

to eat this pack rat.

And now I want seconds.

More pack rat, please.

TWILA: [LAUGHS]

[CRICKETS CHIRPING]

[CRICKETS CHIRPING]

[GENTLE ACOUSTIC MUSIC]

♪ ♪

PADMA: Visiting the San Carlos
reservation has been eye‐opening.

Foraging for my entire meal

isn't something
I've ever experienced before,

and I won't soon forget it.

I'm heading back
to Phoenix now to experience

a more urban style of foraging.

♪ ♪

[MELLOW MUSIC]

Nestled at the base
of Camelback Mountain,

Felicia Ruiz's home
is surrounded by hundreds

of native medicinal plants,
trees, and other edibles.

Felicia is a healer,

a curandera.

She uses plants
native to this area

to make traditional meals
and teas.

Road weary and far from home,

I could use a bit of TLC.

♪ ♪

We are going to get
a little bit of this.

It's called creosote.

The original people here
call it "shagoi."

It's the grandmother
of our desert

because they live
for so many years.

But if you just go like this
to the plant

and then smell your hand...

[INHALES]

Mmm. Mm‐hmm.

PADMA: It smells like a
cross between eucalyptus

and the pine‐y wood smoke
of a campfire.

FELICIA: We're going to
be making a tea with this.

This is kind of, in a way,

like, our indigenous
first aid plant.

PADMA: Your work as a
curandera... FELICIA: Mm‐hmm.

What is a curandera?

It's a traditional healer.

[MELLOW MUSIC]

My great‐grandmother‐‐
she was a curandera.

And she worked with
all the different plants

in northern New Mexico.

Curanderismo‐‐ it incorporates

every kind of indigenous person
in Mexico.

So there'll be African aspects,

indigenous Mexican,

and even Spanish aspects.

Food is medicine.
We've all heard that before.

But on a different level,
it's, like, spiritual medicine.

It's much deeper
than just what feeds you.

Exactly,
it's not the vitamins and things like that.

It's, like,
a spiritual connection.

- It smells like wet cement.
- [LAUGHS]

It does. It's medicine.

If you had a cold or flu
right now,

I would have you
drinking this tea‐‐three days.

Yeah. [LAUGHS]

PADMA: So tell me
what your background is.

My whole life,
everyone always asks me,

"What are you
and where'd you come from?"

And it was frustrating
because I wasn't

an enrolled member of a tribe.

So I wasn't native enough
for some people.

[PERCUSSIVE MUSIC]

I've been doing genealogy

to find out exactly
which tribe I was from.

But when I started
eating the different plants

that we didn't really
grow up eating,

it triggered something
in my tongue

like, a ancestral memory.

Like, I couldn't explain it,
but‐.

- It felt familiar.
- It felt familiar.

And so it just sparked me
to wanna learn more.

And that's how I got to do
what I'm doing with my work,

is I'm helping people
reconnect to their culture

through the indigenous food.

[CHIMES CLINKING]

So we're making
a red chile sauce

with cholla buds
from my backyard.

[LIVELY PERCUSSIVE MUSIC]

♪ ♪

These are the buds
from the cholla cactus.

And kind of like beans,
you soak them overnight.

PADMA: So interesting.

It tasted like a grain but also
like a dried fruit at the same time.

FELICIA: Mm‐hmm.

We're going
to put them in the pot

and just cook them a little bit.

What are these chiles called?

We just call them
New Mexican red chiles.

[LAUGHTER]

I like to bring in that element
of smoke for the flavor profile.

And once they're rehydrated,
you get to grind them.

All right! I'm ready to grind.

FELICIA: You're ready to grind.
PADMA: [LAUGHS]

And kind of, like...

PADMA: Am I doing it right?

Kind of like you're pushing and
then you're kind of pulling it back.

It's like Pilates.

PADMA: If only Pilates
was this delicious.

I'm gonna taste this
since it's on my jeans anyway.

The bitter notes are nice
because of the smokiness.

FELICIA: Mm‐hmm.

[MELLOW GUITAR MUSIC]

FELICIA: The smokiness is going
to be the most dominant flavor.

♪ ♪

- It's delicious.
- It's delicious.

So now we have
one more secret ingredient.

These are ancestral chiles.

They're super hot.

How spicy do you wanna go?

Pretty spicy. [YELPS]

Oh, be careful. [LAUGHTER]

I'm lucky it didn't have
any spikes.

You are lucky. There's
a couple there. Be careful.

PADMA: Okay.

I'm gonna put in about half
and then we'll taste it.

PADMA: I'm Indian, dude.
FELICIA: [LAUGHS]

PADMA: So I can take it.

FELICIA:
Okay, that's about half.

♪ ♪

I think you can add the rest.
FELICIA: Okay.

PADMA: Okay‐‐whoa. [LAUGHS]

FELICIA: That is more than half.

So I wanna
get the cholla buds out.

PADMA: They look like little
pine cones or mushrooms.

FELICIA: Mm‐hmm.

You wanna try the sauce?

PADMA: Yes.

FELICIA:
See that tree right next to you?

Mm‐hmm.
FELICIA: That's mesquite.

We can garnish it
with a couple of the leaves.

♪ ♪

PADMA: I love how the
texture of the cholla is so soft.

FELICIA: Mm‐hmm. Not too spicy.

I was just thinking
it's the perfect amount of heat.

FELICIA: Food
sovereignty isn't just about

sustaining yourself with food.

For me, it's how can we get
the indigenous people

to be the ones in the spotlight
sharing those stories?

- The original keepers
of that knowledge.
- Exactly, exactly.

This is who we are. Yeah.

- This is what we are, yeah.
- Right, right.

This is the cholla.

It shoots out a little bud
and we're picking the bud

before it blooms into a flower.

So essentially what you just ate
were flowers in chile sauce.

That's nice. Mm‐hmm.

All right, cutie, we'll check
in with you in a couple months.

FELICIA: In a couple months.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

[MELLOW ACOUSTIC MUSIC]

PADMA: Many of us Americans
don't even have a connection

to our food or the land
where it comes from.

In native communities,

this connection
is deeply important.

WOMAN: Growing up,
three of my favorite foods would be beans,

prickly pear, and acorn.

MAN: Acorn is my favorite.

It just goes well
with the meals that we prepare.

WOMAN: Throughout the years,
I've learned

that not many people knew that
these were traditional foods,

and how healthy and grateful
I was growing up

to be able to have those foods
into my family.

PADMA: Traditional indigenous
cooking is having a resurgence,

but modern convenience
is still the norm.

Reconnecting
with ancestral foods

is something that
has to be relearned by many‐,

or maybe even learned
for the first time by some

[MELLOW PIANO MUSIC]

Brian Yazzie grew up Navajo,

but commodity food
was all he ate as a child.

BRIAN: I grew up on the streets,
you know, here in Phoenix.

I was in g*ng activity,

doing all type
of negative stuff,

you know, stealing cars,
chop shops,

you know, getting shot at,
getting stabbed.

Cooking saved my life.

I was getting a call
from one of my sisters.

You know, "Can you come home
for a couple days?"

You know,
"We missed your cooking."

And that was their way of
communicating with me to see if I'm safe.

How did you get involved
in gangs? How old were you?



It was the year
I moved to Phoenix.

I had to be a part of a group,
or else, you know,

if I'm solo, you know,
I wouldn't last.

[MELLOW HIP‐HOP BEAT]

PADMA: It was rediscovering his
native history in food that saved Brian.

Growing up and the environment

I didn't know anything about
indigenous food at all.

That's how I started cooking
with this type of food.

I was encouraged
to share my story

of a negative background
to a positive life.

And what I learned is that
it's a part of my identity.

PADMA: So what all
are we making today?

We're making the blend
of beans, squash...

And corn and nopales.

[MELLOW MUSIC]

♪ ♪

PADMA: One of the staples
of Native American cuisine

is the classic Three Sisters.

It's a dish that always includes

corn, squash, and beans.

These ingredients were here
before colonization,

before any of us.

So this is what you would call
your Three Sisters blend?

BRIAN: Yes.

PADMA: Plus a couple of cousins.

BRIAN:
Yeah, a couple of cousins.

PADMA: With the greens and
nopales. BRIAN: Couple relatives, yeah.

PADMA: These'll come off in the
grill anyway, right? BRIAN: Yeah.

- So I'm not in danger
of k*lling anyone?
- No, no.

PADMA: Or stabbing their throats as
they eat my nopales. BRIAN: [LAUGHS]

PADMA:
On the Navajo reservation,

fresh indigenous foods
are often hard to come by.

Growing up one of nine,

Brian Yazzie's mother
cooked mostly from cans.

So what sort of things
was your mom cooking?

Mainly cooked commodity food,
you know, that we had

canned beef, canned corn.

Government cheese. Wow.

Being in that household
with eight siblings,

you know, and a single parent,
she did what she had to

to make ends meet and also
to put food on the table.

Definitely.

You know, so fried bread was one
of the big staples in our household.

It still is within a lot of tribal
communities who are still in poverty.

PADMA: All right,
I'm gonna do some cutting here.

Ow, this is hot.
How did you touch it?

BRIAN: [LAUGHS] PADMA: Ouch.

♪ ♪

BRIAN: Here,
so I'm adding the acorn and squash.

PADMA:
How long do these roast for?

About four minutes.

Hopi blue corn.
These are boiled.

And Navajo steamed corn.

- So these are tepary beans?
- Yeah, these are local.

I hope that you and I are talking one
day 20 years from now and you tell me,

"Man, I can't get away from
indigenous food. It's everywhere."

[LAUGHTER] BRIAN: Right?

PADMA: Okay, here's another
thing I've never cooked before.

PADMA: Antelope.
BRIAN: I have a couple times.

Just a couple? Okay.
BRIAN: Just a couple times.

♪ ♪

PADMA: This antelope actually
came from the San Carlos reservation

where I learned to forage
with Twila.

BRIAN: So we have in New Mexico,
red chile, sea salt, and garlic.

Dried sage.

And at the end,
I'm gonna add the sunflower oil.

It'll help rub that on there.

PADMA:
What is your favorite game meat?

BRIAN: I like muskrat.

Pack rat was my first rodent,
so I'm learning still.

Why do you think food sovereignty
is the key to sovereignty?

Yeah, it's part of what‐‐
our identity, you know?

It's part of who we are.

You know, without these food,
our culture will be lost.

With most tribal communities,
their languages were lost.

And food is the next thing that we're
starting to lose if we don't fight for it.

PADMA: Brian considers
himself a food activist,

and in 2016, helped feed
thousands of protestors

at Standing Rock in the Dakotas.

Native Americans
spent months there

protesting the building of a
pipeline on reservation lands.

Criminals!
You guys are criminals!

REPORTER: Yesterday, authorities
put up a new barrier near the camp

where hundreds have gathered
for months.

PADMA:
He served a new kind of meal

a decolonized Thanksgiving

using traditional
native ingredients,

which is what
we're cooking today.

So this is part of a standard menu
that's a decolonized Thanksgiving?

Yes, so instead of doing
the typical Thanksgiving

of cranberry, stuffing,
and turkey...

PADMA: Mm‐hmm.

We're doing more of the indigenous
ingredients within in this region

and just serving it
like it's an everyday thing.

PADMA: This looks beautiful.
I'ma have a tiny piece.

BRIAN: Yeah.

PADMA: That's really
good. It does taste like steak.

Except it doesn't have
that kind of bovine...

BRIAN: Mm‐hmm, yeah.
PADMA: Smell or aftertaste to it.

PADMA: This look beautiful.

Each type of corn,
each type of bean

is its own distinct
texture and bite.

Some of its buttery.
Some of its more crunchy.

PADMA: Some bites back.
BRIAN: Definitely.

PADMA: So this is what
your ancestors would've eaten.

BRIAN: Yeah, daily.

That's something that, you know,
we're helping revitalize

and help bring back to families.

It makes my spirit happy.

You know, it makes my heart happy that I'm
serving something that hasn't been forgotten

'cause the crops have burnt down
and livestocks were k*lled.

But seeing it on the table
and serving it,

it's definitely something
that brings me home.

[BIRDS CHIRPING]

[CRICKETS CHIRPING]

[GENTLE ACOUSTIC MUSIC]

PADMA: Freedom and independence

are fundamental American rights.

But for natives,

these rights are never a given.

WOMAN: What I want future
generations to know about Apache people

is that we have had
to exhibit strength,

resilience, and rediscovering

this knowledge
that was taken from us,

stripped from us years ago.

PADMA: Exploring this vast
and plentiful landscape myself,

I realized
how much it has to offer.

If you listen closely,

it starts to speak to you.

This decolonized Thanksgiving

is a symbol of perseverance
and sovereignty through food,

Taking back what was once theirs

is exactly what this meal
is all about.

Do we all sit down?

Brian and I spent the afternoon,

and he showed me how to make
a Three Sisters blend.

Also, how to cook antelope.

So I have had
a lot of firsts here.

[LAUGHTER]

FELICIA: We're all here
today to celebrate Thanksgiving.

And at first, let's be thankful because if
you just take a look all the way around

look at all this beauty
that we're surrounded by.

All right, so we have yucca
and sage mash. Here they are.

Three Sisters dish‐‐
it has beans, Hopi blue corn,

Navajo steamed corn,
and two types of squash,

butternut and acorn.

Then we have
the traditional corn mash.

PADMA: This looks beautiful.
FELICIA: It does.

PADMA: This looks
so colorful and lovely.

WOMAN: I'm looking
forward to the antelope.

PADMA: I have to
take a picture of this.

This is my first...
[SHUTTER CLICKS]

Non‐colonial Thanksgiving.

And I'm really thankful for it.

I didn't really know that much
about this community

more than the average person
in America does,

and that's not much, as we know.

And I'm so thankful
that I did get to come here

because it's a very rich
and delicious...

- Always very delicious.
- Culture.

This is what American food
looks like.

- WOMAN: Mm‐hmm.
- This is the original.

Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

Thank you for letting me
into your food

and your traditions
and your hearts.

I really, really had
a beautiful, special time here.

Thank you so much.

FELICIA:
A toast to new friendships,

and a resurgence
to our food ways.

[GLASSES CLINKING]

Cheers, cheers, cheers.

By the way, you guys are
the most well‐behaved people

I've ever sat at a table with.
[LAUGHTER]

FELICIA: That's part of colonization,
is eating with fork and knife‐‐.

PADMA: And sitting at a table.
FELICIA: Right.

If we were really eating
and not on camera,

you know we would all be eating
with our hands, right?

WOMAN: I know.
[LAUGHTER AND CHATTER]

Okay, so... [LAUGHS]

I'm gonna go ahead and just get
in there with my hands because...

PADMA: Then let's eat with
our hands! That's ridiculous.

I'm good with my hands.

FELICIA: I know.
[LAUGHTER AND CHATTER]

[MAN VOCALIZING PASSIONATELY]

[DRAMATIC PERCUSSIVE MUSIC]

♪ ♪