Nashville Public Television and the Tennessee State Museum will host a free event Thursday, Jan. 16, at the museum (1000 Rosa L Parks Blvd., Nashville, TN 37208) celebrating food and culture. The evening includes selections from the new season of No Passport Required, the PBS show hosted by renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson.
The evening will also include a panel discussion and a screening of NPT’s Next Door Neighbors: Taste of Home, a survey of culinary traditions of Nashville’s immigrants. Caracasville (Venezuelan food), Ze Spicy Lentil (Ethiopian food), Pita House (Palestinian food) and Casa Segovia Paz (Bolivian and Peruvian desserts) will be on hand with samples. Attendees will be able to view the museum’s Let’s Eat! Origins and Evolution of Tennessee Food exhibition.
The event takes place 5:30 to 8 p.m.
No Passport Required airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on NPT. In the second season, Samuelsson highlights the food and culture of Portuguese-speaking residents of Boston; West African expatriates in Houston; Chinese-Americans in Las Vegas; Los Angeles’ Armenian community (the world’s second-largest); Italian-Americans in Philadelphia; and Seattle’s Filipino American community.
Food and culture are also at the heart of Taste of Home, part of NPT’s Next Door Neighbors series about Middle Tennessee’s immigrant communities. Taste of Home features members of the area’s Ethiopian, Palestinian and Venezuelan communities and shows how food keeps people connected to their home countries, while also helping them form bonds in new locations. The documentary has been nominated for a Midsouth Regional Emmy and will re-air Monday, Jan. 20, at 11:30 p.m. on NPT. All of NPT’s Next Door Neighbors documentaries are available for online viewing at ndn.wnpt.org.
The Tennessee State Museum’s Let’s Eat! Origins and Evolution of Tennessee Food exhibit explores the rich and diverse history of Tennessee’s food. Let’s Eat begins with Native American origins, then moves to European and African influences. There are also sections about how social factors like Jim Crow and economic hard times affected Tennessee traditions. Finally, the more recent culinary flavors of new arrivals and modern-day food festivals are all part of the story of what and how Tennesseans prepare and enjoy food.