Paula Hyppolite was determined that her son be born in Haiti. They were living in New York when she became pregnant, and she returned to Haiti in time for Sidney-Max Etienne to take his first breath there. His early years were spent on his family’s land, connecting with nature and digging yams out of the soil. The family would roast the tubers over an open fire with the skin on, for a dish called patat boukannen.
They returned to the States when Sidney was just three, but interest in his homeland lingered. In particular, he grew interested in forests and permaculture. The fundamental ingredient for grilling and smoking—wood—is a complex issue in Haiti, where trees have been cut to produce charcoal and make space for farming at such a high rate that only about one percent of their primary forests remain. Sidney had been working as a graphic designer, but the looming environmental crises in Haiti, compounded by political and economic instability, earthquakes, and health crises, beckoned him home.
