Hare Krishna Kitchens In W.Va., Soul Food And A Musician’s Call To Arms, Inside Appalachia

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This week, 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.

You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

The Three Kitchens Of New Vrindaban
Tashi Dorji's Album, we will be wherever the fires are lit
Sharing Soul Food

The Three Kitchens Of New Vrindaban

A man with a blue headwrap standing behind a plate of food in front of photos. — 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

A person standing in a dark room with a ray of light shining on their face. — 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

Large man in a blue polo cuts onions over a bowl in a kitchen. — 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: [email protected].

You can find us on Instagram, Threads and X @InAppalachia. Or here on Facebook.

Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

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