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Hidden Kitchens: The Kitchen Sisters "Food history is as important as a baroque church. Governments should recognize this cultural heritage and protect traditional foods. A cheese is as worthy of preserving as a 16th-century building." — Carlo Petrini, founder, Slow Food Movement
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Hidden Kitchens: The Kitchen Sisters

From street corners to old-fashioned traditions, communities come together through food.
Stubb Stubblefield: Archangel Of Barbecue

CB Stubblefield Courtesy of Sharon Ely hide caption

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Courtesy of Sharon Ely

Stubb Stubblefield: Archangel Of Barbecue

C.B. "Stubb" Stubblefield had a mission to feed the world, especially those who sang in it. He generously fed and supported both black and white musicians, creating community and breaking barriers.

Stubb Stubblefield: Archangel Of Barbecue

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Birth Of Rice-A-Roni: The Armenian-Italian Treat

The birth of Rice-A-Roni began with a friendship between a Canadian immigrant and a survivor of the Armenian genocide. Soon after, an Italian family made "the San Francisco treat" into a popular side dish.

Birth Of Rice-A-Roni: The Armenian-Italian Treat

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London's Gardens: Allotments for the People

Sam Clark, chef and Manor Garden allotment holder. Kitchen Sisters hide caption

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Kitchen Sisters

London's Gardens: Allotments for the People

London's "allotment" gardens are an unusual system of community gardens across the city. Tended by immigrants, retirees, chefs and fans of fresh food, they make up a kitchen community like no other.

London's Gardens: Allotments for the People

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The Sheepherder's Ball: Hidden Basque Kitchens

An accordionist leads his band at the annual Sheepherders Ball. Roland Studio, ca. 1950. Courtesy John Odiaga. Basque Museum & Cultural Center hide caption

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Roland Studio, ca. 1950. Courtesy John Odiaga. Basque Museum & Cultural Center

The Sheepherder's Ball: Hidden Basque Kitchens

In the last century, Basque people fleeing Francisco Franco's dictatorship flocked to America. "Hidden Kitchens" explores their world of outdoor, below-the-ground, Dutch oven cooking traditions.

The Sheepherder's Ball: Hidden Basque Kitchens

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Broncos and Boudin: The Angola Prison Rodeo

Hidden Kitchens travels to the Louisiana State Penitentiary and the world of unexpected, below-the-radar, down-home convict cooking at the Angola Prison Rodeo. The event, which draws thousands of spectators, features traditional dishes prepared and sold by inmates at the prison farm.

Broncos and Boudin: The Angola Prison Rodeo

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Sugar in the Milk: A Parsi Kitchen Story

Niloufer Ichaporia King lives in a house with three kitchens. She is known for her ritual celebrations of Parsi New Year on the first day of spring, when she creates an elaborate ceremonial meal based on the auspicious foods and traditions of her vanishing culture.

Sugar in the Milk: A Parsi Kitchen Story

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Hercules and Hemings: Presidents' Slave Chefs

Hercules, a slave of George Washington, and James Hemings, owned by Thomas Jefferson, began a long connection of presidents and their African-American cooks. And President Lyndon Johnson's black cook may have influenced his work on civil rights reform.

Hercules and Hemings: Presidents' Slave Chefs

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Kibbe at the Crossroads: A Lebanese Kitchen Story

In the late 1870s, Lebanese immigrants began arriving in the Mississippi Delta, working first as peddlers, then grocers and restaurateurs. Kibbe, a meatloaf of sorts, is part of the glue that continues to hold the Lebanese family culture together in the Delta and beyond.

Kibbe at the Crossroads: A Lebanese Kitchen Story

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Weenie Royale: Food and the Japanese Internment

Children eat hot dogs at Idaho's Minidoka Internment Camp. National Archives; Densho Project hide caption

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National Archives; Densho Project

Driveway Moments

Weenie Royale: Food and the Japanese Internment

After Pearl Harbor, about 120,000 Japanese Americans were uprooted and forced to live for years in federal camps. Internment changed the traditional Japanese diet and erased the family table.

Weenie Royale: Food and the Japanese Internment

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Olive Oil Season: A West Bank Kitchen Story

Every year, Palestinians from towns and villages across the West Bank bring their ladders and tarps to local olive groves. Olive oil season is the center of local history and culture — and at the heart of the economy.

Olive Oil Season: A West Bank Kitchen Story

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Memorable Moments 2007

The Birth of the Frito

The Kitchen Sisters explore the saga of a Texas corn chip and C.E. Doolin, the can-do visionary behind it. Doolin, who envisioned Fritos as a side dish, never imagined anyone would consume an entire king size bag. The story of the Frito is the latest in the "Hidden Kitchens" series.

The Birth of the Frito

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Mozart's Hidden Kitchen

On the eve of Mozart's 251st birthday, The Kitchen Sisters take us to Vienna, to Mozart's Hidden Kitchen: "The Tables of New Crowned Hope." The festival honored the composer's free-thinking philosophy, innovation and radical music.

Mozart's Hidden Kitchen

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Farm Aid: Saving the Family Farm

The Kitchen Sisters visit the 21st annual Farm Aid benefit concert in Camden, N.J., for some turkey-stuffin', potato-mashin' music and some deep stories of an endangered tradition — the American family farm.

Farm Aid: Saving the Family Farm

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Deep-Fried Fuel: A Biodiesel Kitchen Vision

At a truck stop between Dallas and Waco, Texas, a little energy revolution has begun. Truckers at Carl's Corner fill up on BioWillie, biodiesel named after singer Willie Nelson. The fuel is made from farm crops and recycled restaurant grease.

Deep-Fried Fuel: A Biodiesel Kitchen Vision

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