This Oklahoma restaurant will be featured on new Hulu show all about soul food
"Searching for Soul Food," a new Hulu cooking show brought to life by Los Angeles-based chef Alisa Reynolds and Onyx Collective, will feature a Broken Arrow restaurant and the food culture of Oklahoma's Indigenous communities.
Oklahoma is the focus of the second episode in the series' first season as Reynolds heads to NĀTV, 1611 S Main St. in Broken Arrow, a restaurant that describes itself as "a farm to table restaurant focused on bringing Native American cuisine to the modern forefront."
The show allows Reynolds a chance to examine what soul food means to different people across eight locations and backgrounds. Deeper than that, though, the show gives Reynolds an opportunity to dive into the role food plays in the history of humanity.
"If we put history in a line, we went from war to war to war to war to war,” Reynolds said. “Tell me 100 years that is perfectly beautiful in the line of history going back thousands of years. But what can I tell you about history going back 1,000 years? There's always been somebody cooking us some beautiful food. There's always been beautiful dishes.”
More: A new scenic stop is coming to Oklahoma City as part of OKANA development
What to know about 'Searching for Soul Food' on Hulu
The journey begins with Reynolds' own Mississippi background, then examines the concept of soul food through lenses that are completely different from the traditional idea of Black, Southern American cuisine.
“There's different ways of telling the soul food story, and I thought mine was the way through the belly,” Reynolds said.
The show would take her to Appalachia; Cape Town, South Africa; Naples, Italy; Portland; Jamaica; Lima, Peru; Los Angeles and, of course, Oklahoma.
“The Oklahoma connection was kind of to my family again because I was always told we had Choctaw in us. So, I wanted to dive in and that became one of my favorite episodes,” Reynolds said. “I learned so much about the culture, the food and things that we don't normally think about as Americans, like where are all the Native American restaurants or what they even eat?”
Alisa Reynolds on how sharing food culture can be healing
While some locations were chosen because of a family or ancestral tie, others were chosen for exactly the opposite reason.
“I wanted to go to Appalachia because I wanted to go to the direct opposite of what I look like,” she said. “I wanted to see what the Appalachian story had, and it was intriguing for me to go do a 180 on, you know, places (I) expected to find soul food — on what they thought their version of it was or stories of lack and ingenuity in creating something out of nothing.”
Reynolds said that people and foods have been erased historically, but that through sharing our food cultures, we can spark conversations and begin healing processes.
James Beard award winners: Andrew Black brings Best Chef: Southwest James Beard Award home to Oklahoma City
"In terms of history being good or bad, these dishes survive and they become something that should inspire us to be a better world,” Reynolds said.
All eight episodes of "Searching for Soul Food," are available to stream on Hulu now, but Reynolds feels she's only beginning to tap into the soul food stories of the world.
"Of course it's television, so you can only go to so many places,” Reynolds said. “Hopefully we'll get another season to be able to continue our journey.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: NATV in Broken Arrow featured on Hulu show 'Searching for Soul Food'
