Unlike other culinary shows, it focuses on community-based agriculture and a family's restaurant. It automatically made me feel connected to the Chef Vivian Howard and her journey with her restaurant. Chef Vivian Howard even states that she is "exploring the South, one ingredient at a time." Heartwarming moments are a large part of the series, always showing Chef Vivian's family's traditions and the communities traditions.
The 13-part series is immensely informative. It gives a small sample of the history of each ingredient featured in the episode. In each episode, Chef Vivian Howard also gives a one-on-one lesson that features the food item of the episode. Chef and the Farmers honor the foods that are in season by making the restaurant menu revolve around those food items, such as the corn and strawberries that are featured in Disc 1.
It gives great ideas for easy and great tasting food. Even being vegan, I found many of the recipes easy to convert to vegan recipes, or vegetarian - from the sweet corn recipes to the candied yams. They even have an episode that includes a vegetarian recipe. This episode is called "Tomatoes...You Say Heirloom, I Say Old Timey" on Disc 1.
Although I would absolutely be interested in watching more seasons, I did have some dislikes and concerns. In "Cracklin' Kitchen" there are a couple of scenes that show pigs being cut up. I did not notice any warnings before the episode started or before the scenes occurred. Personally, I believe that there should have been some type of warning because some people are sensitive to events and imagery such as that.
Chef Vivian Howard has an extraordinary connection to the audience and her community. Her confidence in kitchen shines as well as her confidence for the reprise of the South. She keeps her chin up throughout the whole season, even during the extreme low points within her restaurant.
I recommend this to ages 13 to 18 due to the somewhat mature content in a couple of the episodes. This is not gender specific so any gender would enjoy this series. I would rate this series 4 out of 5 stars. Reviewed by Aisling Lacey, KIDS FIRST! Juror
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