‘South By Somewhere’ Series with Vivian Howard Coming to PBS

Celebrity chef Vivian Howard, who previously hosted the award-winning series “A Chef’s Life” returns to PBS in “South By Somewhere.” The new six-part series is a culinary tour, exploring dishes that are uniting cultures and creating new traditions across the American South.

“South By Somewhere,” premieres on PBS in Winter/Spring 2020. In the series, Vivian travels the changing South in search of the dishes that connect us all — dumplings, hand pies, porridge and more — but which are expressed in delightfully different ways across cultures. Along the way, she meets new friends and teachers, and as she says, discovers “how breaking bread and sharing a meal can create a comfortable place to have meaningful, memorable conversations.”

“Shooting “South By Somewhere” has made me look at what we call Southern food with a new set of spectacles. The home kitchens I learn in, the stories I hear people share, the food I watch them make — it has lit a fresh fire under me,” Vivian says. “I’m excited that, as Southerners, we can tell these complex stories through food and culture, and not shy away from our past or present.”

With each episode, Vivian finds that although we’re different, our appetites are very much the same. For example, in North Carolina, Vivian samples the collard sandwich, a staple of Lumbee Indian cuisine, with native Lumbee home cooks for whom Southern hospitality is a fundamental way of life. She also travels to West Virginia to sample the pepperoni roll, a regional convenience food made popular by coal miners. In Charleston, S.C., where rice is king, Vivian enjoys grits and rice middlins with respected Gullah chefs whose cuisine is the backbone of the city’s bustling food scene.

The series is created by Vivian Howard and Cynthia Hill with Howard also serving as a producer and Hill as the series director. Pamela A. Aguilar serves as the Executive in Charge for PBS.