TV One’s Savor The City closes out its season with a powerful finale that blends history, heritage, and heaping plates of flavor, and we’ve got an exclusive clip. For this final episode, Chef Jernard travels to Savannah, Georgia, to honor Juneteenth alongside two impactful voices: Chef Gina Willis, owner of Gullah Geechee Cuisine, and cultural historian and anthropologist Trelani Michelle.
The trio gathers for a celebratory feast rooted in Gullah Geechee tradition, complete with seafood rice, fried soft-shell crab, a kale and collard green salad with black-eyed peas, and Chef Gina’s viral “Drunk Shrimp” charcuterie board. But the real richness comes from the conversation—a nourishing exchange about food, freedom, and how our roots shape our rise.
A Kitchen Full of Memory and Meaning
When Chef Jernard asks what role food plays in the culture, Chef Gina speaks from the soul.
“I mean, food is just such an important part,” she says. “Some of the things that make me just joyful—if I smell some boiled shrimp and a little beer, I instantly think of my grandfather and I think of his club.”
Her stories spill over with memory, but her mission is forward-facing. Through her nonprofit, the Gullah Heritage Kitchen, she’s creating space for ownership and visibility in the food world.
“My tagline is creating a greater space for representation,” she shares. “I want for other people who look like us to not always be in the back of the kitchen, but to own the kitchen.”
Land, Legacy, and Liberation
Chef Gina goes deeper, pointing to land as a key to economic freedom.
“If you’re in your garden, start selling some of the stuff from your garden,” she urges. “We can become growers. We can become suppliers. We need Black farmers. It’s all about land ownership… that will help us economically and for future generations.”
It’s a bold, timely reminder that Juneteenth is not just about remembering the past, but also about reclaiming the future.
Red Rice, Jolof, and the Language of Food
Cultural historian Trelani Michelle brings even more texture to the table, using food as a map of ancestry.
“I’m always curious about where you’re from and where your people from, because that shit tells so much about who you are,” she says. “Red rice—that’s one of my favorite ways to identify where Gullah Geechee territory is. You can map it all day long, but y’all eat red rice—where you at?”
Trelani links Gullah cuisine to global Black traditions, connecting red rice to jollof and jambalaya.
“We make one with our environment,” she explains. “We gonna use what we got, and we gonna make it do what it do.”
Where to Watch the Fun
In a season finale that honors the soul of the South, Savor the City goes out on a high note, serving up food as resistance, restoration, and remembrance. This Juneteenth special is more than a meal—it’s a call to remember where we come from and reclaim what’s ours.
