American food has evolved over the years, and much of it has to do with the vast range of cultures that have influenced it. One of the latest Netflix shows is called High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America, and it’s all about how Black culture has greatly influenced American food over the years. It’s set to debut on May 26th.

High on the Hog: A New Docu-series

The new docu-series has the same name as food historian Dr. Jessica B. Harris’ books. It’s considered to be a mix of a travelogue and a culinary show. Hosted by the founder of Whetstone, which is a magazine and media company, Stephen Satterfield, the docu-series will share stories of food along with the culture behind it.

Over the four episodes, Satterfield will go on a culinary journey with chefs, activists, historians, as they celebrate the artistry, resourcefulness, and courage of the African American people.

Unlike Other Docu-Series

Most food and travel shows tend to skip over the issues that pertain to class disparity, racism, labor, and more. However, these issues are what lead to what people eat and why. High on the Hog is one that is committed to telling the complete story of the deep-rooted history of slavery in America and how it has impacted the American food that is very well-loved and appreciated today.

High on the Hog is a docu-series that offers a history lesson right from one of America’s finest historians. That historian is also a well-respected food journalist who is devoted to untangling the topics when it comes to soul food, West African stews, barbecue, and also fine dining meals.

Directed by Roger Ross Williams, an Academy Award winner, the docu-series highlights the resilience of Black America, its enduring creativity, as well as contribution to America’s kitchen.

There are two roads that lead to concept innovation – the first one is to remarkably improve the pre-existing options think drive-thru coffee and the second one is to come up with a completely different mechanism to attract customers – think Starbucks when it was newly launched. This year’s emerging trends have been heavily shaped by the pandemic. Anytype of to-go feature showed increasing popularity. From drive-through salads to pre-portioned single-serving meal packs, to boxed lunches for delivery – one common factor for all the up-and-coming food brands is that they are easy to scale. Location expansion over same-store growth proved to be a bigger driver for growth.

Here’s a list of three buzz-making items and the twist they have taken over brands that came before.

Bowls

Bowls are a very popular concept amongst food lovers today. Firstly, they are photogenic which makes them popular amongst the Instgram-Twitter generation, secondly, they are healthy and come in exciting new flavors. From healthy options like grain bowls, harvest bowls, buddha bowls, and smoothie bowls to tongue-tingling options like burrito bowls or poke bowls or KFC’s famous mashed potato bowls. This concept also makes it easy for takeout and delivery adding another advantage to the list. They are one of the top-ranking features in almost every list.

Bubble Tea

Although bubble tea has been around for a while now ( say decades) but it’s getting rediscovered. Tea enriched with boba (tapioca pearls) is gaining increasing popularity – with a lot of emerging providers topping this year’s list. The key focus is on authenticity and heritage. The drink is originally from Taiwan – and there are two main authentic Taiwan players on the market. Sharetea and Gong Cha. What are they doing differently you wonder? Well, the focus is on freshness. The ingredients and elements that go in the drink are freshly prepared every day.

Salads

While healthy eating/ conscious eating is slowly gaining mainstream popularity – Salads have been around for a long time now. A concept that has been popular across generations and nations. While the ingredients and prep methods are constantly witnessing changes – for example for this year adding vitamins in the greens are turning out to be a popular trend.

It basically looks like one Greek salad bowl with boba tea to go kinda future!