Hot Chicken Is Hot, But Who's Benefiting? (Reheat)

In the last 15 years, Nashville hot chicken has become a hot trend. But for decades before that, hot chicken was well known among Nashville’s Black community. For generations, you could only get it at the place where it was invented: Prince’s Hot Chicken. Now with attention from the likes of Beyoncé and Guy Fieri, Prince’s has gone from being a neighborhood institution to a Nashville landmark — and many imitators have come along. Dan travels to Nashville and speaks with André Prince Jeffries, who’s been running Prince’s for more than 40 years. She talks about Nashville’s history of segregation, serving members of the KKK, and the complicated racial dynamics behind this food trend. When white chefs and restaurateurs cash in on a dish created by Black people, who benefits?

This episode originally aired on October 4, 2021, and was produced by Dan Pashman, Anne Saini, Emma Morgenstern, Andrés O’Hara, Daisy Rosario and Peter Clowney, with editing help from Dan Charles. This episode was mixed by Casey Holford and Jared O’Connell. The Sporkful team now includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell. This update was produced by Gianna Palmer. Publishing by Shantel Holder.

Every other Friday, we reach into our deep freezer and reheat an episode to serve up to you. We're calling these our Reheats. If you have a show you want reheated, send us an email or voice memo at hello@sporkful.com, and include your name, your location, which episode, and why.

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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