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Fabienne Toback

@savyfaby

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Thank you @bittersoutherner for the gorgeous opportunity to share a bit of my culinary and film journey. Thank you @lindseytramuta for the intro and @laurenzcollins for the gentle nudging, and most of all @kyletibbsjones who believed I could do this before I wrote a word and wouldn’t take no from me ♥️♥️🥲 by @savyfaby

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10 days ago

And finally, we are excited to present Fabienne Toback and Ellen Port as the last additions to the ArktiskMat 2026 speaker lineup.‼️‼️

Cuisine is a historical document. Fabienne Toback spent four years along with her partners building High on the Hog, the Peabody Award-winning Netflix series that followed African American food from a market in Benin to the American South and reached audiences with no prior interest in the history it carried. She traces her own route from a Brooklyn kitchen to filmmaking, and the discovery that food is how a people carries itself forward.

Ellen Port joins her to turn that lens toward Nordic foodways and highlights one of her projects, the Nordic in New York Dining Series. We were fortunate to collaborate with Ellen on Arctic in New York, a joint project last year, where she contributed valuable insight into and connections within the New York food scene. Together they follow the thread from what a place inherited to where it is now: a record still being written, added to by everyone who arrives, and never finished. by @savyfaby

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I wrote a personal essay for the esteemed @bittersoutherner about how I got from food to film. Humbled by the experience, in more ways than one :)
It starts in a crowded elevator in Cotonou, Benin, into filming the first episode of High on the Hog. And it goes back further, to a five year old me in Crown Heights nibbling the edge of a Jamaican meat patty. Restaurant internships at Le Perigord. My Bajan grandmother’s salt cod fritters. Summers in Lausanne. A boy in a window across a Brooklyn backyard who I never spoke to and have never forgotten. Food was always how I understood people. Film is how I tell it back. Grateful to share this issue with friends @lisamariedonovan and @laurenzcollins and thank you to @kyletibbsjones @bittersoutherner and intro by @lindseytramuta Subscribe!!! this is journalism and writing that is an imperative to keep alive @bittersoutherner by @savyfaby

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2 months ago

Today I received a copy of my ASME award for Best Lifestyle Journalism. It was for the video companion to “City That Rice Built,” written by Jeff Gordinier and George McCalman for Food & Wine Magazine. Our video highlighted the enslaved people whose agricultural knowledge made Charleston prosper, and the matriarchs carrying that knowledge forward today. Kudos again to @thegordinier and @george.mccalman and @foodandwine @asme1963
Stories like this, around food and culture, mean everything to me. Highlighting the invaluable contributions that people make to the communities they touch isn’t a preference. It’s an imperative.

The stories of these individuals will no longer be lost (unlike the original award, which disappeared from the offices of Food & Wine on its way to me).
So, I’m building a digital platform, a place for them to live. Motion : Still launches this fall. by @savyfaby

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2 months ago

This one hit hard 💔. If you’ve known me a long time, you might remember that my mil primatologist, Erna Toback was an FOJ (friend of Jane) Miles pictured here at one of the Roots and Shoots events - I think there still might be a folded dove in my exes garage. You will be missed sweet Jane, you inspired us all and you will forever be remembered 🕊️❤️#rootsandshoots by @savyfaby

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a year ago

We won an @asme1963 ! @thegordinier and @george.mccalman wrote an amazing article for @foodandwine “The City That Rice Built” - We were lucky to be invited to shoot a short video piece, bringing their amazing article to life🎥🙌🏽❣️It was a nice return to directing and making lifestyle pieces, and we want to do more ❤️❤️ @hey_sistah taken in Charleston, South Carolina by @savyfaby

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2 years ago

I busted a move to Paris last summer. My sense of home arrived only this past Wednesday, the New Moon and Chinese New Year – and now begins Black History Month – seems like an opportune time for an update 🤩
The fires have irrevocably devastated my California community, and the uncertainty in America and beyond weighs on me. And yet, through the tears, pain, and loss, I hold onto hope, beauty, joy, and love❤️❤️
The paradox of gain and loss reminds me of a Buddhist fable I used to read to my lads when they were little. I miss them madly (though we FaceTime more than they probably want). I don’t miss driving, but I miss the hills, the ocean, the spontaneous dinner soirees, taco crawls, and dancing till dawn. But I love biking along the Seine, discovering a new city, meeting new people, and finding new love.
Let’s keep in touch! Xx 😘 taken in Paris,France by @savyfaby

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2 years ago

Omg!!! 💥High on the Hog wins its second 🏆🏆@naacpimageawards 😍😍😍😍 we are so excited and share this special moment with our incredible team @onestoryup the amazing ✊🏾@rogerrosswilliams and Geoff Martz, the incomparable✊🏾 @isawstephen the gifted🎥 @cactus.eyelash the queen 👸🏾herself @africooks our showrunner @michelemarilynsdaughter and none of this is possible without our team @netflix #blackstoriesmatter by @savyfaby

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3 years ago

So excited to announce that we’ve been nominated for the second time!!! 🤯for and NAACP award for outstanding documentary series. Cannot thank enough the wonderful team and partners @rogerrosswilliams and @onestoryup ,our amazing host @isawstephen , of course there is no High on the Hog without the incomparable @drjessicabharris and ever big grateful thanks to @netflix ❤️❤️❤️❤️ #blackstoriesmatter #bhm by @savyfaby

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3 years ago

On today’s episode of Weirder Together podcast we are excited to be joined by our fiends Fabienne Toback and Karis Jagger, creators of Netflix’s award winning series “High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America“: by @savyfaby

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3 years ago

by @savyfaby

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3 years ago

❤️❤️Happy Publication Day to our dear friend @klancycooks could not be more proud of you!! Karis and I are honored to be a part of your most gorgeous book!! Can’t wait to dive deep into this gorgeous femme celebration. Dearest Klancy, you embody Black girl magic, and so happy to be a part of your joyful world. Come see us all in Los Angeles on September 25th at the @acedtla where gathered together, we will spread that joy! 🥰🥰🥰Yay!!! woot and all the exclamations!!!! order her book support this fabulous woman :) @klancycooks and massive kudos to @mccalmanco and @sans.murs for making this book sing with resounding beauty ❤️❤️❤️❤️ taken in Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles by @savyfaby

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