This week on Inside Appalachia, a Hare Krishna community in West Virginia serves vegetarian food made in three sacred kitchens. Also, an Asheville musician’s latest guitar album is a call to arms. And, we talk soul food with Xavier Oglesby, who is passing on generations of kitchen wisdom to his niece.
Saci Suta offers food to Krishna in the devotee kitchen.
Photo Credit: Zack Harold/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Our Folkways Reporter Zack Harold recently made a trip to the small town of New Vrindaban, in West Virginia’s northern panhandle.
It’s a Hare Krishna community started in the late 60s. These days, the town is home to a few hundred permanent residents, but thousands of pilgrims visit each year. They come to worship in the temple — and to visit the opulent Palace of Gold.
But those main attractions were a pretty small part of Zack’s trip. He ended up spending much of his time in the kitchen.
Tashi Dorji’s Album we will be wherever the fires are lit
Musician Tashi Dorji.
Courtesy Photo
Tashi Dorji was born in Bhutan and moved to western North Carolina in 2000. He’s been here ever since. Dorji released a slew of albums over the last 25 years, both as a solo artist and collaborator. His latest is all instrumental. The title, we will be wherever the fires are lit, appears in a poem on the album’s Bandcamp page.
Host Mason Adams spoke with Dorji about the poem and more.
Sharing Soul Food
Xavier Oglesby cuts onions for a macaroni salad he is cooking inside Manna House Ministries’ kitchen. A pot of boiling water is behind him, cooking the pasta for the dish.
Photo Credit: Vanessa Peña/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Soul food like cornbread, extra-cheesy mac and cheese and collard greens plays an important role in Black communities across Appalachia. In 2023, Folkways Fellow Vanessa Peña spoke with Xavier Oglesby, a master artist in soul food cooking from Beckley, West Virginia.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Jett Holden, Tashi Dorji, The Local Honeys, John Inghram and Grace Bowers and the Hodgepodge.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Abby Neff is our associate producer. Our Executive Producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. We had help this week from Folkways Editors Nicole Musgrave and Chris Julin.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
On this episode of The Legislature Today, we have a roundtable with our Energy & Environment Reporter Curtis Tate, Health Reporter Emily Rice and Statehouse Reporter Briana Heaney. They discuss the first days of the 2025 state legislative session and look ahead to the remaining weeks.
On this West Virginia Morning, we check in with two Democratic lawmakers to discuss the minority party's response to Gov. Patrick Morrisey's state of the state speech Wednesday.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey delivered his first State of the State address to the West Virginia Legislature Wednesday night. Minority Leaders Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, and Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, sat down with News Director Eric Douglas to discuss Morrisey's State of the State address and about being a minority to a supermajority in the legislature.
Affrilachian poet and playwright Norman Jordan is one of the most published poets in the region. Born in 1938, his works have been anthologized in over 40 books of poetry. He was also a prominent voice in the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s and 70s. He died in 2015, put part of his legacy is the Norman Jordan African American Arts and Heritage Academy in West Virginia. Folkways Reporter Traci Phillips has the story.